SSKT 4
by Deku -Hisui no Ken- Midoriya
Summary: Beacon has fallen. Darkness had triumphed but as the saying goes "The battle maybe over but the war is not". Through the thoughtful planning of Sonic Maruti, himself and the others went their separate ways to train each member of Team RWBY and Team JNPR. Now Sonic, Ruby, and Team JNPR are on a journey to Mistral. They'll have to fight the denizens of darkness to get to their goal.
1. Chapter 1 The Next Step!

_**What is up people?! You all miss me, I'm sure you all did! Well you're in for a treat! The fourth installment of SSKT! Number 4! You all are pretty excited for this, well a few things I need to address before I start this. First, Silver, Blaze, and Espio won't be in this, reason why is that Sonic will send them on a 'special assignment' back to Mobius. Second, You recall seeing SSKT 3 where Yang's arm was not sliced off, we it's happening but Knuckles did it by accident while they were training. And third, this fall, RWBY Vol. 5 is coming up. Just to let you all know. With that out of the way, let's get this ride started! Enjoy! Oh yeah, the link to Pyrrha Niko's Volume 4 outfit on my fanfiction profile. Go check that out!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Sonic SEGA and RWBY Roosterteeth Productions and Monty Oum.**_

 _"It all happened so fast…"_ A voice said in the void of darkness. The echos causing ripples. _"Even to this very day, I am still overwhelmed by that battle. It was one of the most darkest battles we've ever been in. Throughout my years of being in wacky worlds and duking it out against baddies who sought to take over the world, this… this is totally one of the most gruesome battles ever."_

Then a figure appeared in a blue flash, he had blue hair, blue hedgehog ears, emerald eyes, he wore a dark blue jacket with a black symbol, a black sleeveless shirt inside, dark blue pants, he wore white gloves with cyan bracelets, and wore red shoes with white straps and gold buckles. He opens his dewy-eyed emerald eyes as he looks at the viewers with a forlorn expression that shows that he has troubled thoughts.

 _"If you don't know who I am, then let me tell you. I'm Sonic Maruti but I was normally known as 'Sonic the Hedgehog'. The fastest thing alive. I'll give you the fast version of how we came to be in these dark times… it all started from the battle of my metallic double Metal Sonic who had four Chaos Emeralds to my three which caused Chaos Control to send Shadow, Knuckles, Tails, and myself to Remnant thus meeting Tai and Qrow. In turn we found ourselves that we're training to be Huntsmen at Beacon Academy. We met the friends and lovers which made our time at Beacon worth it, then this evil woman known as 'Cinder Fall' infiltrated' the academy to steal the powers of the Fall Maiden and caused Vale and Beacon to fall; not only that but dividing humanity as a whole! After the battle, our friends Silver, Blaze, and Espio helped with my plan to have each of my teammates train each member of Team RWBY. Tails training Blake, Knuckles training Yang, Shadow training Weiss, and myself train Ruby for a year so we can find Cinder and make her pay! But after 3 months of this year, I decided something for the final battle when it comes, I sent Silver, Blaze, and Espio on an assignment of gathering allies. While they do that, I'll be training Team JNPRR on this training trip to Mistral to prepare for our next move once hit Haven! So Cinder Fall, get ready to die by our hand once this year is over! And your queen too!"_

 **-Music: Minerva (Fairy Tail)-**

The scene opens on a close-up of a pool of black slime in a dark red and purple land. A large paw emerges from within the slime and a Beowolf gradually crawls out, slime sliding off of it and onto the ground. Then we see several such pools and many Beowolves emerging. It pulls further and further out to show a mostly dark and desolate land made up of red ground, purple crystals, and a red and black clouded sky. The images shimmers and we see Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai reflected in a window, watching from inside a high building. Emerald has her hand to her mouth while Mercury seems slightly disgusted. A gloved hand appears between two purple crystal formations and snaps its fingers. A wide shot reveals a large windowed room, at the center of which is a long purple, crystal table. Four people sit at the table with seven chairs. One of them is Cinder Fall. Emerald and Mercury move away from the window. There's a close-up of the man sitting across from Cinder, Arthur Watts. He is looking at his Scroll. Next is the man to Cinder's right, Tyrian Callows. He sits in a crouch casually on his chair, resting his arms on his knees. Across from Tyrian is Hazel Rainart. His arms are crossed, and he looks asleep. Cinder sits quietly, while Mercury and Emerald move to her side. Emerald nudges Mercury out of her way so that she can be directly next to Cinder

"Yes, yes, keep your posse in check." Watts states seeming to mock Mercury.

Mercury grunts and makes a move toward Watts, but Emerald holds him back.

"You hear that? Silence."

Hazel gives Watts an unimpressed sideways glance.

"I've half a mind to thank the little girl that bested you." Watts continued to provoke the three who decimated Beacon.

Tyrian snickers with his maniacal smile. "If I were you, I'd hunt her down. Find her and, well, she took your eye, didn't she?"

Cinder only stares at Tyrian while he cackles at her. Cinder tries to speak but only manages to make quiet exhaling noises. Emerald leans in to hear her.

Watts shook his head in disapproval. "Pathetic. Why did you even—"

There is a sound of a heavy metal door being unlatched. The doors open and everyone stands just before Salem enters. She glides alongside the table with soft footsteps before reaching the head of it, jewels dangling from her hair. Salem stops, facing away from them and toward a candle and crystal display.

"Watts." Salem called.

Watts straightens, looking toward her.

Salem turns to the nobleman. "Do you find such malignance necessary?" She gestures for all to sit down.

"I apologize, ma'am. I'm not particularly fond of failure." Watts answered with respect.

Watts and Salem sit simultaneously.

"Then I see no reason for your cruelty towards young Cinder. She's become our Fall Maiden, destroyed Beacon Tower, and most importantly, killed dear Ozpin. So I'm curious, to what failures are you referring?" The Grimm Queen inquired.

"Well, the girl with the Silver Eyes."

"Yes. We've dealt with their kind before. How is it a novice was able to best one of us?" Hazel asked.

Watts takes a glance at Hazel. "My thoughts exactly. Even without her new power, it should have been effortless."

"It is because of the Maiden's power. Make no mistake, Cinder, you hold the key to our victory. But your newfound strength brings with it a crippling weakness. Which is why you will remain by my side as we continue your treatment." Salem stated looking at Cinder. "Not only that, we have dimensional overlanders with abilities that can easily defeat her."

Cinder is unhappy about this and lowers her head. Emerald looks at her in sympathy. "..."

"Dr. Watts, you are to take Cinder's place and meet with our informant in Mistral." Salem continued.

Watts nods with a small smile. "Very good."

Salem looks at the sadist. "Tyrian, I want you to continue your hunt for the Spring Maiden."

"Gladly." Tyrian cackles.

Salem glanced towards Hazel. "And Hazel, I'm sending you to the leader of the White Fang. Adam Taurus has arranged the meeting. The boy continues to prove loyal. Ensure that Sienna Khan feels the same. And our ally, Dr. Eggman will be present also, he'll supply us with the devices we need."

Hazel nods. "As you wish."

Cinder raises a finger as Emerald fails to notice this gesture for a moment.

"Oh?"

Emerald leans in to hear her.

Cinder rasps into her ear. Emerald straightens.

"Speak, child." The Grimm Queen dictates.

"She wants to know… What about the girl and the four overlanders?" The Street Thief asked Salem.

Watts scoffs at Emerald's question. "What about them? Seems to me that this is Cinder's problem, not ours."

Cinder slams her fist onto the table and glares at Watts, who grins at her.

Salem narrowed her eyes a bit. "That's enough. Tyrian?"

"Yes, my lady?"

"Spring can wait. Find the girl and the four overlanders that did this to Cinder." Salem says.

Tyrian giggles elatedly and claps.

"And bring her to me."

Tyrian freezes, groans disappointedly, pouts for a second, then looks back up at Salem with an acquiescent shrug.

"Because of your efforts, Beacon has fallen. And Haven will be next." Salem said.

Everyone rises.

Tyrian snickers at Cinder and points to his left eye.

Tyrian laughs wickedly. "Eye for an eye." Tyrian goes into an uncontrollable fit of manic laughter, while Cinder grits her teeth.

 **-Music Ends-**

Oscar Pine, a boy with freckles and hazel eyes, wakes up in a panic and sighs in relief after looking around. He emerges from the loft of a barn and climbs down a ladder. The boy is wearing patched khaki pants, a white shirt, and orange suspenders and gloves. Tucked into his pocket is an orange-based multi-colored cloth. He opens the barn door to a peaceful country scene with a rising sun and birds tweeting. White mountains are background to a dirt road, grass, a few trees and a green water pump. He smiles and pumps water into a blue bucket. As his gaze wanders the landscape, he becomes distracted from the pump and utters a quiet sound of surprise upon realizing he has overfilled the bucket. His shoulders fall with a sigh. The scene cuts to the boy shutting and turning a green compost tumbler that is marked with a yellow crown bearing the initials CK. While hoeing rows in a garden, he suddenly straightens up and looks out in the distance. 

To the sound of blowing wind the scene cuts to a shot of blue sky above a green forest. There are a few shots inside the forest before Nora Valkyrie is heard speaking.

"I'm just sayin'..." A chirpy voice said nonchalantly. "...there's more members of JNPR in this team than RWBY. It just makes sense to go with that one."

Nora, Lie Ren, and Pyrrha Nikos emerge from behind a tree, walking together.

"But "junior" isn't a color." Ren countered.

Nora groaned. "How can I be more clear?"

Nora puts out her hands and the letters SJNPRR pop into existence. She points to the first three. "One, two, three. That's more than one." She points to the R.

"But we're helping Ruby with her objective." Ren said as he held out his hand and the letters SPRNJR pop into existence. Behind him, Jaune "Lionheart" Arc is crouched and watching something.

Ren points to the first R. "Wouldn't that make her the leader?"

"Nora. Ren. Stay focused, we have to be prepared for Sonic and Ruby's signal." Pyrrha consoled getting Miló and Akoúo̱.

Ren and Nora turn their heads toward her.

The letters pop out of existence as Jaune grins a bit.

"Also, SJNPRR is way cooler." Jaune said.

"Exactly!" Nora said in relief.

Ren goes to speak, but instead just groans which made Pyrrha giggle. Suddenly, the ground shook getting Team JNPR attention.

Jaune narrowed his eyes. "It's here."

 **-Music: Bucks Touzoku Dan (Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko)-**

The scene change to Ruby Rose and Sonic Maruti flying backward from trees, firing Crescent Rose in the direction she came from and with Sonic sending his Kūki no dangan (Air Bullets) mirroring Ruby's action. A collection of floating boulders with a Grimm mask moves the trees aside, clearly chasing them as Ruby falls, crashing against tree limbs along the way.

"Bad… landing… strategy!" The Rosy Reaper said on each hit.

Ruby lands on her feet on a big tree branch strong enough to hold her weight. She uses her Semblance to fly past the Grimm and Sonic was a blue flash zooming ahead.

Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora look up.

"Let's get that thing off of them!"

Jaune and Pyrrha runs toward them. Ren jumps up into the trees.

"Don't forget me!" Nora cried.

Nora pulls out Magnhild and shoots it at the ground, propelling herself into the air with excited whooping. She lands right beside Ren in his branch.

"We need to draw its attention away from Ruby and Sonic!" The Ninja Teen

As a stream of rose petals, Ruby flies past them.

"Could use some help!" Ruby said.

Nora shoots the Grimm in the back. Ren hops around on branches. The Grimm tries to hit Ren. Ren runs up its rock arm, flies into the air, and comes down upon the Grimm, striking at it with StormFlower his attack ineffective.

"Gotta get in closer!" Pyrrha said firing rounds with her Milo Rifle.

Ren lands beside Jaune. "My blades don't hurt him!"

The Grimm turns, standing upright.

Nora's eyes widen at this. "Crap!"

"How about this?!" Ruby said hoping her tactic works.

She loads a magazine with an image of a lightning bolt on its side into Crescent Rose and fires. Electric bolts encase one of the Grimm's arms. The red lines on the arm glow brighter, and the Grimm slams it into the ground. All are sent flying backward, but Sonic, Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ruby manage to land on their feet. Jaune tumbles along the ground painfully until he uses Crocea Mors to slow himself down before he softly bumps into the boulder.

"I've had enough! Howaitodoragonsōdo (White Dragon Sword)!" Sonic shouts as Caliburn had a white glow.

Sonic swings the magical blade releasing a dragon shaped crescent gunning for the Grimm, the Azure Faunus grinned knowing that he has a trick up his sleeve. Then the attack hits the Grimm's arm causing electricity to spark.

"That's it!" Nora gasped having an idea.

She runs forward, tossing Magnhild into the air and transforming it into hammer mode. She jumps into the air and hits it, breaking its arm apart. A large piece flies straight toward Nora, but Ruby gets between them and knocks it away. Then the Grimm uses its other arm to strike at the two girls. Jaune knocks the arm away with his shield as the Grimm continually tries and fails to hit an evasive Nora.

Jaune stands up and looks up at the Grimm. "Ah… is that…?"

The Grimm's armless shoulder gains a glowing red circle with a symbol of an eye in the middle. The circle spins, and then a black, elongated arm with clawed fingers emerges from it. The arm rears back.

"Uh-oh!" The Blond Knight gulped. "Pyrrha! Look out!"

The Grimm shoves its new arm into the tree where Pyrrha was leaning against and lifts it from the ground. Before the shrubb was lifted from its roots, she heard Jaune's warning and ran from the tree

"Everyone! The Grimm's arm is a tree!" The Gladiator Girl declared as she charged in with her shield in front.

"Big mistake!" Sonic and Ruby said in unison.

Ruby spins Crescent Rose and loads another magazine into it - this one with imagery of fire on its side. She fires, and the flaming projectile swings around to the tree arm. Sonic had white fire blaze to life on the blade of his sword as he fired his Howaitobureizukurasshā (White Blaze Crasher) at the tree arm amplifying the burning heat. Then Pyrrha jumped to slice the tree arm clean off and one of Ren's StormFlower spins through the air and makes a cut across the Grimm's mask making the Grimm fall. Ren lands beside Jaune and catches his gun. Ruby, Pyrrha, and Nora come up behind their teammates with Sonic landing beside them.

Jaune sheathed his sword. "Okay, how do we do this?"

Ren shook his head. "His body is too thick to break through."

"It doesn't care about its body." Sonic added rubbing his head.

"Plus it can keep grabbing new limbs!" Nora stated.

"But it keeps protecting its face." Pyrrha chipped in looking at Sonic.

"We can't break it!" Ruby groaned in exasperation.

Jaune slammed his fist into his hand. "Ugh, if we knocked all of its limbs off at once and went for the…"

Jaune's eyes light up with an idea and he turns to face his team as the Grimm gets up. "Guys, I got it! We hit it harder!"

"Is that it?" Ren asked feeling puzzled.

"No, seriously. It's trying to keep us from its face. If we kill the limbs, we'll have a shot to kill the whole thing!" Jaune suggested.

"Alright! Come on, team, let's do this." Ruby said cocking her Crescent Rose.

Nora switched her Magnhild into hammer mode again. "Yeah!"

Ren nods. "Right!"

"Good idea Jaune!" Pyrrha said as Milo turned into its' xiphos mode.

Jaune smiles till he gotten serious. "Ren and Sonic, left. Ruby and Pyrrha, right."

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: Jashin wo Yaku Honoo (Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko)-**

Ren, Sonic, Pyrrha, and Ruby depart as told.

Jaune glances at his hyperactive teammate. "Nora, ready to try out the new upgrade?"

Nora nods and runs off leaving Jaune to close his eyes taking a deep breath. Then he opened his royal blue orbs to have his pupils white and then his white aura manifesting and expanding. Jaune grabs Crocea Mors and prepares his shield ready as he charges in, then he swung his sword making white flames swoosh to life on the grass getting the Grimm's attention. Ruby and Pyrrha attacks the right side as Ren and Sonic attacks the left. Nora activates a mechanism that generates a current of electricity across the hammerhead of Magnhild. Jaune runs around to block the Grimm's strikes with his shield as his aura manifest itself again.

"I'll take over here!" The Blond Knight switched his defensive stance into an offensive stance.

" _Silver told that I can amplify a bit of my aura just by breathing… let's see if it works. Gotta make this count!"_ Jaune thought as his aura started to expand getting the total attention of the Grimm swung its' limbs at him.

Jaune opens his eyes as he charges with his sword pointing forward. "Lions Defense Breaker!"

The Grimm got stunned unable to defend itself as their teammates attacked the Grimm easily with no problem.

Nora charges Magnhild even more and braces her feet. "Ready!"

The four lands next to Jaune after another attack.

Jaune looks at Nora. "Use everything you've got!"

Ruby uses her Semblance to fly at the Grimm, taking Nora with her, and the red and pink swirls go right for the tree arm. Ruby slices the tree in half, opening the way for Nora to hit the mask with Magnhild. The rock body shatters and the ephemeral Grimm rises out of it and flies off. Ruby aims a shot at it, and it turns its face right into the flaming projectile. Next is a wide herd of birds taking flight from trees.

 **-Music Ends-**

Sonic wiped the sweat off of his brow. "Whew! Another victory and a job well done! Good job everyone! Let's report back to the mayor and tell him that the Grimm is exterminated!"

Sonic shakes hands with the town Mayor.

"We truly can't thank you enough." The Mayor said with gratitude.

"Just doing our job, sir." The Azure Faunus said with a smile on his face.

"That Geist had been plaguing our village for weeks. We were beginning to wonder if we'd have to relocate." The Mayor said.

"Well, we are on our way to Mistral. You could always come along with us if you don't feel safe." Ruby added her two cents in.

We enter a village of the idyllic life in the village are shown: people buy fresh produce from a cart, stand and chat on open balconies overlooking the roads, tend to their horses and generally go about their daily lives peacefully. The village has plentiful trees and green spaces and cobbled roads.

"Ha. I take it you're not from these parts. Anima is a large continent. I'm afraid our people would never survive the long trek to Mistral. It may be safer in the Kingdoms, but we prefer our way of life. I just wish we could pay you more." The Mayor said being amused by Ruby's suggestion.

Pyrrha shook her head. "Our previous arrangement is more than sufficient."

Team SPRNJR bows respectfully. 

**-Music: Chiisana Ganbari Ya (Fairy Tail)-**

A shop door closes. At a counter, a burly man with horns sets down a set of armor.

"There you go, son. It's going to be heavier than what you're used to, but you'll thank me the next time you go up against a set of claws." The Blacksmith said with a hearty laugh.

Jaune was flabbergasted by how the armor looked. "Wow. That-eh. I don't know what to say."

The Blacksmith smiled. "Don't gotta say anything! Just put it on! I'll go get the rest."

The Faunus blacksmith turns and goes out back.

Nora gives Jaune a hard push making him stumble. "So, what are you waiting for?"

Jaune manages to get his balance back. "Oh, uh, right!" Jaune takes off his old chestplate.

"Guess I was going to grow out of it eventually." He added softly.

Ren smiled a bit. "A sign of progress."

"Progress that I am proud of Jaune. The way you applied Silver's principle on your aura control was excellent." Pyrrha said with a smile and she gave him a kiss on his cheek.

Jaune blushes with a smile as he turns around, and Ruby gasps, then covers her mouth and tries not to giggle.

Jaune arched an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Ruby points to his chest. "What is that?"

A bunny emblem is on Jaune's chest.

"What, my hoodie? I've always had this." Jaune said not getting what Ruby sees as funny.

Ruby snorts. "It's got a cute little bunny rabbit!" Ruby laughs making Sonic laugh with her.

Jaune's blush gotten redder. "It's Pumpkin Pete! You know, from the cereal?!"

Ruby was near in hysterics. "What did you do?! Send in a box top for a prize?"

Jaune turns away. "Yeah! Fifty!"

Ruby and Sonic continue to laugh hysterically, theirs heads stylistically expanding, before they fall onto the floor.

Ren chuckles at the display. "Well, I suppose we don't have to grow out of everything."

"True." Pyrrha said while in a giggling fit.

The couple chortles from the floor, feet in the air as the blacksmith returns from out back.

"Can't have a Huntsman without his weapon." The Blacksmith holding something in his hand.

It was a wide sword sheath is stuck into the countertop.

"Made all the modifications you asked for."

The blade expands into a shield.

"That was some fine metal you brought me. Accents the white nicely. Where'd you get it from?" The Faunus Blacksmith asked feeling curious.

Jaune gazes at the gold accents on the shield, the design on the bottom reminiscent of Pyrrha's circlet "From my girlfriend."

In effect, the redhead blushed a bit when he said "girlfriend".

Sonic, Ruby, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora wait outside the shop. Jaune comes out wearing the armor. He pulls out the sword and expands the shield.

Blacksmith chuckles. "He cleans up alright, don't you think?"

Sonic whistled in admiration. "He certainly does. Lookin' way past cool bud!"

Nora taps her chin. "I still think a grenade launcher would've really brought the look together."

Ruby fist pumped the air. "Nothing's gonna stop Team SPRNJR now!"

"Team SJNPRR!" Nora corrected.

"Still not a color."

Jaune chuckled. "It doesn't matter what we're called. As long as we're together."

"I agree Jaune." Pyrrha said holding hands with her boyfriend.

"You kids sure you won't stick around? You've been real good to this town." The Faunus Blacksmith said.

"Sorry, but we've got another mission." Sonic said.

"Make it to Haven Academy, no matter what." Nora added.

"We've heard the next village over has a working Airship." Ren stated.

The Blacksmith nods. "Mmm, no way to know for sure. Scroll signals were weak enough out here back when Beacon Tower was still up. Haven't heard from Shion Village in a while."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Pyrrha said.

With a wave, Team SPRNJR turns and leaves. The blacksmith waves back and grunts.

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: Mavis Ponders (Fairy Tail)-**

"Food?" Jaune inquired.

"Check!

"Water?"

"Check!"

"How about ammo?"

Nora nods. "Locked and loaded! Thank you, Schnee Dust Company!"

"Got the map?" The Blond Knight asked.

Ruby looks down sadly when Nora mentioned the "Schnee Dust Company". "..."

Nora points to Ren. "Ren's got it."

Ren shook his head. "No, I don't. You have it."

Nora looked confused. "Wait, what?"

"I hope you guys didn't lose the map." Pyrrha said with a sigh.

Nora sweatdrops. "Uh.. heh-heh-heh."

Jaune face palms himself. "Are you serious?!"

Nora sheepishly laughed. "Nope."

" _I wonder how the others are doing with their training…"_ Sonic thought looking up at the sky as he held Ruby's hand.

An airship is in the sky, with Weiss Schnee's reflection becomes visible watching airships fly by through a window. She is sitting in a cushioned chair with her hands folded in her lap. There is a knock on the door.

"Yes?" She answered.

A wide shot of the room reveals a large, open space on two levels. On the upper level are two arched bookcases built into the walls and a picture of a knight resembling the Giant Armor hangs between them. A gilded mirror hangs above the mantle of a fireplace on the lower level. The door opens and Klein, a butler, enters. Alongside him was Shadow Donovan who had a black and red trench coat with a black sleeveless shirt inside and black pants. And his hair was covering his right eye.

"Pardon the interruption, Miss Schnee, but your father wishes to speak to you." Klein said.

Weiss sighed. "Thank you, Klein. Shadow, mind if you come with me?"

"Of course Weiss, afterwards, it's time to train." Shadow said heading out the door.

Weiss looks out the window once more before getting up and walking out. Her heels clank across the floor, and the door slams shut as the scene cuts to black.

 **-Song: Kara no Kokoro (Anly)-**

 **"Kara no kokoro wo terasu mono wa nani?  
Sakebi tsuzukeru hikari todoku made…"**

Then sounds of guitar strum plays before the music plays showing the title in sunlight as sakura blossoms fell making the title disappear.

 **"Falling through the cracks kurayami he ochiteku  
Anata no sono te wo zettai hanasanai  
Tell me the story of your life mada michi no tochuu  
Anata wo watashi ha zettai akiramenai.  
Osaerarenai shoudou nanigenai hibi ha aijyou  
Natsukashii kaze ni furimukeba itsudemo anata no koe ga suru yo  
Underdog ha Wander around mawari michi shitemo nigeru yori mashi yo!"**

We see Team SPRNJR walking on a path in a beautiful day with sakura blossoms falling and then they are seen standing on a hill gazing at something breathtaking. The scene changes into a winter setting with Shadow and Weiss sitting at a cabin together, they sipped their hot chocolate till Weiss looks at the snow with a sad look, Shadow had a small smile appear on his face as held her hand making the Schnee Heiress look at him and then smiled as they became silhouettes as they kissed. Then the scene changed to Knuckles and Yang who were at the mountains racing on their motorcycles with big smiles on their faces. Knuckles flew over Yang and speeds away, Yang grins as she revs Bumblebee doing a wheelie zooming towards a ramp gaining big air as she lands on her tires passing Knuckles as he went through a turn. The Red Faunus smirked as he revs Earthbreaker as he and Yang become red and yellow blurs. Tails and Blake were at Menagerie gazing at the stars together, Tails yawns as he shuts his eyes making Blake giggle as she gently made circles on the Fox Boy's cheek with her finger. Then the scene turns black.

 **"Jibun de jibun wo shinjirare nakucha dare wo shinjiru no?  
Hikari ni sono te kazase**

 **Oh yeah~"**

 **"Shining through the clouds kurayami he ochiteku  
Anata no sono te wo zettai hanasanai  
Tell me what is on your mind hateshinai yume wo  
Oikake bokura ha zettai akiramenai!"**

A white light shone as Sonic was fighting Tyrian as Team SPRNJR were killing the Grimm, then the view switched to the barrel of Ruby's Crescent Rose before she fired a bullet round making the scene turn white. Then a black glyph appeared with a snake appearing tearing through the Grimm like they were made of paper and Weiss made a white glyph appear as a white knight appeared beginning its assault on the Grimm as the screen turned black. The darkness took a view of spinning like a wheel, then we see Yang and Knuckles on their motorcycles being chased by a humongous Grimm. Yang began firing shots at the Grimm, as well for Knuckles who used his Galatine to make a pillar out of steel to evade Grimm's large claws at the last second as they zoomed off leaving dust in their wake making the scene change. Tails, Blake, and Sun were fighting against the White Fang till Adam appeared making Blake afraid till Tails held her hand as she stood as the two charged at him.

 **"Kotae no nai jinsei ni kujike sou ni naru kedo  
Don't give it up! Keep it up! Turn it upside down!  
Kokoro ha tsunagatteru yo tatoe tooku hanaretemo  
Tomo ni tomo ni ikiteyukou!"**

The scene changed where everyone stood in the town of Haven, they had their hands on top of each other and then they raised them as scene turn white as the music faded out. **  
**


	2. Chapter 2 Remembrance!

_**Hey guys! What is up?! It's your boi back with a new chapter! I can't wait for RWBY Chibi season 2 this May! Well, the link to Pyrrha's Volume 4 Outfit isn't working out so I'll just place it as normal text so you can copy and paste it. That is all, enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Sonic goes to SEGA and RWBY goes to Rooster Teeth Productions and Monty Oum.**_

 **-Song: Let's Just Live (RWBY)-**

As the music plays, a silver orb was consumed by a Grimm thus the orb shattered as different colors were scattered around in Remnant as the title appeared in a white void and then vanishes.

" **It used to feel like a fairy tale, now it seems we were just pretending  
We'd fix our world, then on our way to a happy ending  
Then it turned out life was far less like a bedtime story  
Than a tragedy with no big reveal of the hero's glory!"**

Sonic and Ruby are seen walking together till a breeze blew Ruby's hood down making her and Sonic turn to see Team JNPR along with Silver, Blaze, and Espio and they've walked together side-by-side. Then the scene changed with Weiss airborne working on her fencing and then she made a white glyph appear and then she opened her eyes. Then the scene changed with Blake, Tails, and Sun together with two people appeared behind them. A large man and an average-stature woman, the large man shoved Sun out of the way with a nervous Tails this Blake smiled but then she turns her head out to the sea. The scene changes with Yang and Knuckles training but then Yang grips her head then her eyes widen in shock as another Yang appeared laughing mocking her with her other arm, flesh and blood. Then the background changed into a black void with the red glowing pattern of Adam's visor.

 **"And it seems we weren't prepared  
For a game that wasn't fair!"**

 **"Do we just go home? Can we follow through?**  
 **When all hope is gone, there is one thing we can do!"**

Then at a mountain where the views switch from Cinder, Tyrian, Watts, Hazel, and Salem who narrowed her eyes and Grimm suddenly appeared.

" **LET'S JUST LIVE!"**

" **Let's just live day by day and not be conquered by our sorrows  
The past can't hold us down, we must break free  
Inside we're torn apart, but time will mend our hearts  
Move onward, not there yet, so let's just live!"**

As the singer sang the final chorus, we see Sonic and Ruby fighting Tyrian, Shadow looks at Weiss with shocked eyes as she gripped her head and the glyph shattered the scene shifting to Tails and Blake fighting Adam, and Team JNPR were fighting off the Grimm. The scene changes with Team SSKT, Team RWBY, and Team JNPR standing together as the wind blows, then the music ends.

 **-Song Ends-  
**

Shadow Donovan and Weiss Schnee walking down a long, carpeted hallway of blue, white and gray. Protruding columns from the walls are decorated with black sconces and lit candles. Nature paintings are hung in an alternating pattern between the columns. There is also the occasional cushioned chair or round coffee table placed along the walls. Next she is seen walking along an upper level balcony above a large dining hall. A white and green floral centerpiece decorates the white-clothed table. Every column both above and below bears a sconce, but these candles are not lit. Beside Weiss on the balcony are large arch-shaped openings with white gauze curtains. Through one of the curtains, a crystal chandelier can be seen in another room. There is a shut, brown wooden door in the direction Weiss is heading. Weiss walks down a wide stairway with curving balconies on either side above it. Large armor statues fill the space on either side of the bottom stairs. Behind Weiss, a paned triptych of arched windows lets in the sun, casting her shadow onto the blue carpeted steps in front of her. The floor at the bottom of the stairs has a blue and white oval design in its center. Both levels have open archways leading to other rooms. Walking in another room with blue and white floor patterns, Weiss strides pass a life-size statue of a King Taijitu without looking up. Once again, both the lower level and the balcony level have open archways and unlit sconces. A chandelier hangs from the ceiling. An upward view shows that the chandelier is in the middle of a blue and white circular pattern that matches the floor pattern from the previous the point of view of a music room, Weiss and Shadow is seen walking down another hallway. In the music room is a large grand piano with open sheet music. A portrait on the wall shows Whitley Schnee. The duo walks alone in the hallway, never having looked up the entire time, until she has a startled reaction to hearing her brother's voice coming from right in front of her.

"Good afternoon, sister." Whitely greeted.

A teenage boy, somewhat younger than Weiss, stands before her. He's got his hand on his chest and he affects a bow.

Whitley smiled. "A pleasure to see you out of your room for a change."

Weiss sidesteps him and turns to speak, and since he moves to face her the effect is that of the two of them briefly circling each other. "Hello, Whitley. You're in a cheery mood today."

"Klein made crepes for breakfast." The adolescent boy stated as he clasps his hands behind his back and smirks at her.

Shadow narrowed his eyes at Whitely. "What do you want Whitely?"

Whitley gazes at the black and crimson Faunus. "I heard Father shouting with someone in his study earlier."

"Mother?" Weiss inquired.

Whitley shook his head. "No, she's already drinking in the garden. I think it was a man."

Shadow looks up at him on this. _"Ironwood."_ He thought.

Whitley feigned a concerned look. "I just wanted to warn you. I heard he had asked to speak with you."

"I'll be fine." Weiss said coldly.

Whitley chuckles not taking her words into account. "I know you will. You are strong, like Winter."

Weiss' eyes narrowed a bit. "You never liked Winter."

Behind Weiss the Schnee Dust Company emblem can be seen above the archway she was walking toward.

"True, but you can't deny her resolve." He stated

"You… seem different." Weiss frowned.

"And you've been gone. I'll have you know I didn't stop growing while you were away at Beacon." Whitely states.

Whitley turns and walks away. As he does so, the lower half of a family portrait can just be seen on the wall between where the two were standing.

"Anyway, good luck with Father!"

After he is gone, Weiss responds.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Thank you."

"Your brother is weird." Shadow muttered walking ahead.

She continues walking, and there is a close-up view of the family portrait. Clockwise they are Jacques Schnee, Weiss, Whitley, Winter, and Mrs. Schnee. Jacques has black hair that is graying and a full mustache. Mrs. Schnee has a stern look on her face, Winter and Weiss are frowning, Whitley is smiling, and Jacques has a neutral expression.

The scene cuts to blackness, and a blurred, echoing voice is heard.

With a gasp Ruby open her eyes. She's lying in a red sleeping bag on a clearing in some woods. Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren are also in sleeping bags around a long burned-out campfire. Magnhild rests beside Nora. Ruby sits up and looks around. Birds can be heard tweeting and all seems peaceful. Ruby, however, puts her hand to the side of her head and sighs as though she's in pain but a hand touched hers thus making her slowly looking at Sonic's eyes emerald eyes and then caressed her hair making her smile as she closed her eyes. Then later, all seven members of Team SPRNJR walk down a sunny road. Ruby is in front, looking at a map.

 **-Music: Natsu to Happy (Fairy Tail)-**

"So the next town is… uh-huh… uh-huh… We're lost." Ruby sighed frustration.

"We're not lost. The next town is Shion. My family used to visit it all the time." The Blond Knight stated with a small smile.

"Oh really? Don't you have four sisters or something Jaune?" Sonic asked with a yawn.

Jaune sweat drops. "Uh, seven…"

Ruby and Pyrrha giggle.

Nora placed her pointer finger on her chin. "You know, that actually explains a lot."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Jaune asked his hyperactive teammate.

"So, what did you guys do there?" Ren asked.

"Oh, all sorts of stuff! Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is where we went camping all the time. I got my own tent because I was special. Also, so my sisters would stop braiding my hair." Jaune sighed at the phrase about his sisters braiding his hair.

"Didn't like the look?" Ruby inquired.

Jaune nods. "Yeah, they just kept doing pigtails, but personally, I think I'm more of a "warrior's wolf tail" kind of guy."

"That's just a ponytail." Pyrrha corrected.

"I stand by what I said."

Nora stops short, raising her hands to her lips as her eyes widen. Soon after, Ren stops, visibly tense. "Uh, guys?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: The Past (Sonic Adventure)-**

Jaune and Ruby look up from the map. Their eyes widen and jaws drop. In front of them is a desolated village. They sky is gray and two columns of smoke rise in the air. A gazebo has a broken tower and lampposts are askew from the ground. At least one dead body can be seen on the side of the road approaching the town. The map is dropped and all four rush forward. They briskly move into the town, looking around. Ren tosses his backpack on the ground and moves ahead while the other six gather in the middle of a road.

Sonic looks around frantically. "There could be survivors!"

"Over here! Hurry!" Ren called.

The other six rush to where Ren is leading them. On the ground, sitting propped against a broken building wall, is a young man in armor. He breathes heavily and holds his hand against a bleeding wound in his abdomen. Ren drops by his side and puts his hand on his shoulder.

Ruby's eyes widen in appallment. "A Huntsman!"

"What happened? Who killed all these people?" Pyrrha asked in a calm and serious tone.

As the Dying Huntsman coughs. "Bandits. The whole tribe… Then, with all the panic…" The Huntsman can't finish and coughs repeatedly.

"Grimm…" Ren stands and walks a few paces away, placing his hands atop his head. Ruby, Sonic, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Nora step away to confer.

"Alright, we can get him to the next village and try to find a doctor there!" She said looking at her friends.

Jaune nods. "Yeah. Ren and I can take turns carrying him there."

"I don't know if he'll make it." Nora said feeling unsure about this.

"He will. He has to." Jaune said trying to the hopes up.

Sonic kneels to the Dying Huntsman and places his two fingers on the immobile man. "...no dice. He's already dead. We should keep moving… isn't that right Ren?"

Nora looks up at Sonic. "Should we bury him?"

Ren walks right past them without a backward glance. "We should go. It's not safe here."

Nora now glances at her childhood best friend. "Ren…" Nora turns and follows him. Pyrrha puts her hand on Jaune's arm as she sees him looking stressed and sad.

"It'll be okay." She said softly.

Jaune sighed as he looks at Pyrrha's jade eyes. "I'm just tired of losing everything."

"Trust me Jaune. Me too. But if myself and my friends didn't show up in this realm, things would have been more worse." Sonic said solemnly walking ahead as the wind blows.

Ren stops and looks at something on the ground, his eyes widening. A cloven hoofprint is impressed into the ground. Nora comes up to his side. She sees the same mark and her eyes also widen in recognition. The two of them silently make eye contact, this didn't go unnoticed by Sonic which he knew that they know something about the foot imprint on the ground.

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: Mystic Land (Hunter x Hunter)-**

With Weiss and Shadow standing outside her father's door and listening to the discussion inside. She hesitates to put her hand on the doorknob as she turns to Shadow who opened his eyes which the Heiress got the message as her hand remained as it stood.

"I'm not talking about the good of my company; I'm talking about the good of Atlas, our entire Kingdom!" A man barked at Ironwood. He has a large gray mustache, and his eyes are a cold blue color. He is seen wearing a pure white double-breasted jacket with a red handkerchief in the breast pocket, underneath which he wears a blue shirt and vest and a gray-white tie, printed with the same emblem on his shoes and above his study. He has a silver-colored ring on his right hand. His name is Jacques Schnee.

Ironwood frowned at his words. "That is a load of garbage and you know it."

Weiss opens the door and peers in. "..."

Jacques' eyes widen in outrage. "I beg your pardon?!"

James Ironwood is sitting in a chair in front of a bookcase sighing rubbing his temples. "Jacques, will you please, just hear me out?"

Jacques places his glass down on the table roughly. "You are a trusted friend and ally to this family, James, but what you're suggesting is absurd!"

"You are blowing it out of proportion." Ironwood stated.

"The council will never agree to it!"

"You forget, I hold two seats on the council."

Jacques scoffs. "Your Dust embargo has already cost me millions! I can promise you, I have not forgotten!"

Ironwood rolls his eyes. "So this is about you."

Weiss and Shadow has come into the room, and they watch to two men awkwardly while the door shuts behind her. Weiss startles at the sound while James and Jacques turn and look at her.

Ironwood bows. "Miss Schnee! My apologies. I should have been gone by now. Agent Shadow. Continue current position till further orders."

Weiss shakes her head. "It-it's okay."

Shadow nods with an emotionless expression on his face. "Yes sir."

Ironwood turns to Weiss' father. "We'll continue this at another time."

Jacques nods in agreement. "Indeed. Klein can show you out."

"Don't worry, I know the way." The General says walking towards the door.

Weiss and Shadow step aside so that Ironwood can reach the door. He turns and looks at her father.

"Until next time, Jacques."

Jacques solemnly nods back at Ironwood, who turns to Weiss.

"Please know, you'll always have a home at Atlas Academy, Miss Schnee. We'll be back in session before you know it. Until then, you'll have Mr. Donovan as your mentor." Ironwood states.

Ironwood leaves as a pan shot of Weiss and Jacques reveals a portrait of a younger black-haired Jacques hanging on the wall behind his desk.

"Did you forget your manners while you were away?" He asked his daughter as he turns and walks to his desk, which is a a few steps up from the chairs and tables where he and Ironwood were just sitting.

Weiss looks annoyed at the comment but calms down with a sigh. "No, Father. I'm sorry…"

"Can you believe there are still people in the world that blame Atlas for what happened to Beacon? To Vale?" Jacques asked but he glances at the black and red Faunus standing there quietly like a soldier stood. "Shadow. The question you can answer also."

Shadow opens his left eye which faced her father directly. "The citizens of Atlas never witnessed the event so their assumptions pointing fingers at your company is a display of their hubristic and cynicism."

Weiss begins walking across the room to stand before his desk but her eyes turn to Shadow with a slight feeling of disbelief. _"How can he say something like that with a straight face?"_ She thought.

Jacques smiled a bit at his answer. "It's a wonder Ironwood wasn't stripped of his rank. I suppose the council trusts him, for better or worse." Jacques finally sits down, swinging the seat so that his back is to Weiss.

"I trust him." The Heiress perked up.

Jacques sighed and turning toward his daughter. "Thanks to him, Atlas is forbidden from exporting Dust to other Kingdoms. "A precautionary measure," as he puts it, "until we're certain no one is going to declare war". How anyone could possibly find that to be sound logic is beyond me."

Weiss blinks at her father, clearly uncomfortable. There is one framed picture on the desk, and it's of Whitley.

Jacques laced his fingers together. "Which is why the Schnee Dust Company will be holding a charity concert in the coming weeks."

Weiss looks up at him in surprise. "..."

"We need to show the people of Remnant that we are on their side. That we are all victims of the fall of Beacon." He said with a small smile on his face.

Weiss plastered a fake smile on her face. "That's… wonderful news."

"I know. And I think it would make a lot of people happy if you performed at the event." Jacques said but then he turns to Shadow which had an idea came into fruition. "And Shadow here will be performing also."

Weiss and Shadow had surprised expressions at Jacques' words. "Excuse me?" They said in unison.

Jacques grins. "Many forget that you both were there. My own daughter, a Schnee, on the grounds, defending another Kingdom and an dimensional warrior! We need to remind them! And we need to show them that the Schnee family is just as strong as ever!"

Weiss arcs an eyebrow. "Are you asking myself and Shadow if I'd like to sing, or telling me?"

Jacques leans forward and makes a tent with the fingers of his hand as he meaningfully gazes at Weiss. "I think it would make a lot of people happy."

Weiss sighs. "I'll start practicing."

"I'll start practicing as well Mr. Schnee sir." Shadow said opening the door for Weiss.

Jacques nods at Shadow and then looks at his daughter. "That's… my girl."

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: How Could I Ever Forget? (Sonic Prologue)-**

Shadow shuts the door thus Weiss turns to find the butler waiting for them with a tray.

"Hot coffee, Miss Schnee? Mister Donovan? I always find he keeps his study dreadfully cold." Klein said.

Weiss takes the mug off of the tray with a smile. "Thank you, Klein."

Shadow takes the mug with a small smile. "Thanks Klein."

Klein smiles. "You know what I think?"

Klein lifts the tray to cover his face before dropping it dramatically as he leans forward toward Weiss making a less-than-formal face, his brown eyes having turned red. "I think it's to balance out all his hot air." He said in a gruff voice with an accent.

Weiss' eyes widen in delight and she turns and looks over her shoulder at the closed office door. She turns back to Klein with a giggle. "Klein!"

The two giggle together before he fakes a sneeze, and his eyes turn blue.

Klein fake sneezes. "Uh, apologies, madam." He said in a high-pitch accent.

Klein pretends to sneeze again. Weiss giggles merrily, hiding her smile behind her hand. Klein wiggles his mustache and looks up. His eyes turn yellow. "Ah, there's my happy little snowflake. Did that brighten up your spirits Mister Donovan?"

Shadow was standing near the window leaning against a column looking outside at the near twilight sky. "Yes Klein. It sure did, just make sure don't do it around Jacques, the walls have ears." He turned to them with a smile on his face.

Weiss breathes a sigh that releases some weight off her shoulders, and she gives the butler a genuine grin. "Thank you, Klein. And… thank you Shadow."

The black and red Faunus stopped sipping his coffee as he smiled again. "No problem Weiss." Then he presumed his consumption of the beverage.

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: A Hero's Shadow (My Hero Academia)-**

The scene changes to the same blackness bordered by moving yellow circles that we saw earlier before Ruby woke up for the day. Ruby opens her eyes slowly and just breathes, letting her eyelids drift shut. Her eyes open wide when, from nearby, she hears the same voice, speaking calmly. Ruby sits up and looks around. There are little will-o-the-wisps floating around, looking very similar to the white circles in the dream. The campfire is still burning but has died down. Ren, Sonic, Pyrrha, and Nora are asleep while their weapons are once again at their sides. Jaune sleeping bag, however, is empty. Through the trees beyond Jaune's sleeping bag, Pyrrha's voice can still be heard, but it is muffled.

"Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions." Pyrrha's voice said.

Two of the words are louder and echo like in Ruby's dreams, making it sound like Pyrrha is saying "Follow me".Ruby gets up and walks toward the voice. She takes a moment to play with one of the wisps as she looks around, uncertain. Moving forward, she spots something and her mouth falls open. Gazing with concern, Ruby moves next to a tree and watches from there. A slight distance in front of Ruby, but facing away, Jaune draws his sword. He poses with it and the shield, before dropping his shoulders and turning to his right placing his Scroll on the stump.

"Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions. Shield up."

Jaune lifts his shield so that only his eyes up are not protected.

"Keep your grip tight."

Jaune tightens his hand on Crocea Mors.

"Don't forget to keep your front foot forward."

Jaune hasn't forgotten and doesn't need to move.

"Ready? Go."

Jaune steps forward with the sword, cutting at the air and making a fighting cry.

"Again!"

Jaune moves forward with his other foot, again slashing the air and releasing a cry.

"And again."

Jaune spins in a circle, putting a lot of feeling and effort into his next cry and slash. It has cost him a bit, and he pants.

"Okay. Now assuming you aren't cheating, we can take a break."

Jaune stands upright and lets his head fall forward a bit, closing his eyes.

"I know this can be frustrating…"

Jaune turns toward Pyrrha's image on his Scroll.

"...and it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount, but I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I've never met someone so determined to better themselves. You've grown so much since we started training."

We now see only Pyrrha's recorded image on the Scroll. The green lights of the once tall and unbroken Beacon Tower, the place where she was destined to die, glow behind her.

"And I know this is just the beginning."

'Pyrrha turns her head, struggling with her thoughts for a moment.

"Jaune, I-I…"

A wide shot shows Jaune taking a step closer to his Scroll.

Pyrrha from the recording was finding the words and confidence, placing her hands over her heart as she speaks. "I want you to know that I'm just happy to be a part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune."

The Scroll rewinds the video of Pyrrha without being touched. Jaune stands before it, holding Crocea Mors, his head bowed.

"Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions. Shield up."

Jaune sighs in pain before belatedly re-following the instructions. "Here we go again…"

"Keep your grip tight. Don't forget to keep your front foot forward. Ready? Go."

Jaune resumes the exercise. Ruby watches with pained eyes before turning away.

"Again. And again."

Jaune makes one extra fighting cry and slash.

 **To Be Continued...**


	3. Chapter 3 Runaways and Stowaways!

_**Hello everyone! I'm back again with the new chapter of SSKT 4 and I thank ya with the good reviews and stuff! That's all I got to say, let's jump on to this! Enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Sonic goes to SEGA and RWBY goes to Rooster Teeth Productions and Monty Oum!**_

We see seagulls caw as a ship moves over peaceful blue waters. A pan of the boat from bow to stern reveals… Passengers stroll across both the upper and mid decks. Miles "Tails" Prower Uzumaki and Blake Belladonna rests their hands on the rail and stares out at the ocean. Blake blinks and looks over her right shoulder, somewhat startled. Two kids laugh over a joke. The duo almost smiles and turns to look back at the ocean. Then footsteps approach the two

"Ya two traveling alone?" A voice asked the two.

Blake jumps and grips the hilt of Gambol Shroud. She halts her action when she sees the captain of the boat. "Oh…"

The Captain held up his hands in a reassuring manner. "Now, now, no threat here. Just here to chat."

Blake hesitates before relaxing her posture with a roll of her eyes. "And why is that?" She silenced her tongue as she felt Tails lightly elbow her arm.

The Captain lowers his arms and then twists to lean idly onto the rail. "Well, not many people travel by boat on their own. It can be quite a lonely voyage. But I found those that do tend to have the more… interesting stories."

Blake turns away from the Captain. "Maybe it's just… better for some people to just be alone."

"I'm sorry about her sir. She's kinda… perturbed." Tails said with a sigh looking at Blake who rolled her eyes.

The two kids run behind Blake laughing and she gasps again, not expecting the noise behind her. She turns and blinks at them trying to reset her calm.

The Captain laughed. "Maybe, but with your paranoia, I think a few friendly faces wouldn't hurt."

"Who says I'm paranoid?!" Blake huffed with tick marks on her head.

The Captain laughs again. "No one, dear, no one. I'll leave you be. But uh, fair warning: these trips can be awfully boring."

Tails nods with a chuckle. "Alright sir! Thanks!"

The Captain continues on his way and Blake stares after him. Once he's gone, she turns and looks at the ground for a few seconds before reaching up and undoing her bow.

"Mmm." She holds the ribbon out over the railing. "Won't be needing this."

Blake lets go and watches the ribbon swirl in the air once before landing on the water. She turns and walks away. Then she felt a hand enter hers as she looks at the Fox Boy with a small smile and a faint blush on her face. As the pair passes inside, a hooded figure is shown to be watching them from a distance. Beside the ribbon on the ocean, the large scales of a sea creature are seen moving just above the surface. After they pass, the ribbon is gone.

The scene changes to Yang Xiao Long sitting on a green couch in her home on Patch. She looks at the stack of three books on her right and instead picks up the remote control to her left. With a click, the projected scene comes on, revealing a news segment from the VBC channel.

Glynda Goodwitch is shown unsuccessfully piecing together a building. Across the bottom of the screen it reads: "BEACON INACCESSIBLE."

"...with no end in sight. Try as they might, the local Huntsmen and Huntresses can't seem to get a hold of the situation at Beacon Academy."

Yang clicks the remote. As the next reporter speaks, the large lettering across the screen are slowly revealed backward, from the perspective of someone facing Yang. It reads: CCT Repairs "Underway". The subheading reads: Atlas officials working on solution, but not optimistic.

"...though the fail safes have supported wireless communication within the kingdom, the loss of the CCT Tower continues to prevent contact with the outside world. Talks with Atlas officials regarding repairs have so far—"

Yang clicks again, cutting off the reporter and bringing up yet another news segment. A horned anchorman speaks above the caption: Sending Citizens Home. The corner caption has the logo for VOX News.

"...Vale council voted this week to continue to ban any air traffic that does not have a direct correlation with evacuation. The council has made it clear that they feel—"

Yang clicks again. Her eyes widen and she sits up.

"Multiple rumors continue to circulate as to who was behind the attacks at the Vytal Festival Tournament." Lisa states.

The screen shows anchor Lisa Lavender and the VNN logo. The caption below her reads: WHITE FANG MEMBER, ADAM TAURUS, PRESENT DURING BEACON GRIMM ATTACK.

"While no one knows for sure, officials have confirmed that high-ranking White Fang member, Adam Taurus…"

Adam's image appears on the screen at his name being spoken.

"...was present for the attack. Any and all attempts to bring him into custody have been met with brutal force—"

Yang turns the news off. She sits there holding the remote, and a door clicks open.

"I'm home!" A voice chimed.

Yang sets the remote down and leans her head backward on the couch, looking up at the newcomer that way. "Hey, Dad."

Taiyang is shown upside-down at first, as he would appear to Yang, but the image promptly rights itself. He is carrying three boxes with two bags hanging from his forearms. "Guess what came in today!"

The door shuts behind Taiyang as he walks into the living room.

Yang raises an eyebrow. "What?"

Taiyang smiled widely. "I can't wait for you to try this."

He walks into another room to unload, while on the couch Yang looks somewhat interested. Taiyang returns, carrying one long white box. He sets it on the coffee table in front of Yang, revealing the Kingdom of Atlas symbol on it she looks at it and doesn't move.

"Well?" Taiyang asked eager to hear what his daughter has to say.

"It's… for me?" She asked looking at her father.

Taiyang nods. "For you and you only."

Yang lifts the lid off the box to reveal a robotic right arm. Yang looks it over, somewhat wide-eyed while her father gushes. She blinks and her eyes droop a bit, revealing she's more distressed than pleased.

"Brand new, state of the art Atlas tech. You know, I thought I was gonna have to pull some strings, call in a few favors, but you earned this one all on your own, kiddo." He said with his hands on his hips.

Yang looks up. "Huh?"

"Before I could even talk to him, General Ironwood already had one of his top scientists working on this, for you. He wanted me to tell you that you fought admirably. You should be proud of yourself." Taiyang said.

Yang looks up at her father but says nothing. "..."

"Well? You going to try it on?" Taiyang inquired.

Yang sighed. "I uh… I'm not feeling too great right now. Maybe later?"

Taiyang deflates a bit and puts his hand to the back of his neck as he sighs and considers how best to respond. "Well, alright."

Yang gets up and walks up the stairs, Taiyang giving her an encouraging smile as she passes in front of him. She pauses partway up the steps, turning in his direction. "Thanks, Dad."

Yang continues upstairs as a visibly disheartened Taiyang bows his head. Later, Yang sweeps the porch, adept at it with one arm. She pauses to wipe her brow and sigh. The next scene shows her getting mail out of the mailbox at the end of their driveway. Lastly, she's in the kitchen, rinsing a glass. As she lifts it out of the sink, it slips out of her fingers and she gasps. When it hits the floor and breaks, it triggers a flashback. Against blackness there's a gray slash moving from upper left to bottom right and the red markings from Adam's mask glow while the sound of a sword loudly resonates. In the kitchen, Yang rears back with a cry. She clings to the countertop and pants, out of breath due to fright. Her fist comes down against the countertop, and Yang gets herself under control. From the doorway, Taiyang watches with concern before turning away without saying a word but a person with red dreads just entered a shack with tools in his hand.

It is dusk, and the boat continues its journey on the smooth water. There is still peaceful bird cry, and Blake and Tails is once again on the middle deck looking out at the ocean. A Faunus couple walk behind her and Blake watches them, slightly less twitchy than before. It's when she's about to leave that she senses she is being watched by someone on the upper deck. It's the hooded figure, and she immediately takes out Gambol Shroud.

"Who's there?!"

"Chill Blake. It's only Sun-" The Fox Boy unsheathes Kaminari no Sen as a faint spark around his body.

 **-Music: Boss Vs. Team Battle (Sonic Heroes)-**

The hooded figure turns and runs for it, blonde hair somewhat visible beneath the hood. Blake stares up at the deck, no longer watching the ocean. She does not notice the dorsal fins of a giant sea creature momentarily surface. However, she feels the boat rocking on the wake it created and lets out a grunt as she tries to keep her balance. The creature's long-necked shadow looms over Blake as she turns around to face the water. Its shadow also falls on a member of the crew on duty in the crow's nest, who is looking up at it in horror.

"RED ALERT!" A random crew member cried.

The alert immediately sounds. Two red lights next to a speaker pulse with the sound. The Captain and his First Mate come running out and look at the water from the upper deck, just above Blake and Tails. The Captain murmurs as the shadow falls over him.

The Captain's eyes widen. "By the gods…"

The long-necked creature is revealed to be a large sea dragon Grimm. It has a pattern of glowing red lines along the scales of its neck, and its eyes glow yellow. The Grimm swings its head back and forth, roaring and spreading its short forearms outward.

The Captain turns and calling out to the ship. "All hands to battlestations!"

"Sir, we've never fought a Grimm this big!" The First Mate cried in horror.

"We've never seen something this big! But we'll give 'er a fight nonetheless!" The Captain said with a grin holding his hat.

The duo springs into action, running off the boat and into the air. She creates one of her clones to give her added upward momentum, flinging Gambol Shroud forward in its kusarigama form. Attached to the ribbon on her wrist, it embeds itself into the Grimm's neck, then Tails sent electricity shocking the Grimm. Blake swings above the Grimm and shoots it in the back of its neck as it roars. Blake lands on the crow's nest while the Captain steers from the bridge. He keeps the ship stabilized in the Grimm's wake and steps outside to get another look at it. Blake still shoots it while it arcs back into the water. The side of the ship opens up and the cannons come out. Blake continues her assault on the sea creature, once again swinging and shooting. The ship's cannons fire but are mostly ineffective. Blake falls back onto the ship's deck, lands on her back, bounces, and quickly gets herself back onto her feet. She discovers that her left shoulder is hurt when she moves to stand. Tails just leaps at the Grimm as he had a red cannon his arm as fires his attack the Āmukyanon: Gigawattobasutāburasuto (Arm Cannon: Gigawatt Buster Blast).

"Hold steady men, it's not done with us yet! GET THE HEAVY CANNON LOADED!" The Captain said as the First Mate changes from being nervous to battle-ready upon hearing this order.

The largest cannon on the ship rises up through a trapdoor on the deck, extends itself, and aims at the Grimm. The Grimm's dorsal fin splits apart and extra bone unfolds, revealing two wings. The dragon lets out a roar as it flies, its beating wings sending a gush of air at the ship. Blake cries out as she hangs on with her hurt left arm.

"Heavy cannon, OPEN FIRE!"

The heavy cannon shoots, but the Grimm easily evades it. It opens its mouth and an electric ball forms but the Fox Boy absorb the electricity.

Blake readies to launch herself at it, but the hooded figure lands on her head and uses her as a launch pad. "Hey!"

The figure grunts, and the cloak falls back, revealing Sun Wukong. Midair, he activates his energy clones.

Blake's eyes widen. "Sun?!"

Sun and his clones land on the Grimm's head. The two clones pull on the topmost tendrils of the head while Sun grabs its upper lip. "Not today, pal!"

When the dragon releases its electric blast, it goes harmlessly into the air, rather than at the ship.

"What are you doing?!" The Cat Faunus asked currently surprised.

From atop the enraged Grimm's snout, Sun answers her while holding onto the two tendrils his now-disappeared clones had grabbed.

Sun sweat drops. "Oh, uh, you know, just… hanging out!"

"Sun! Get serious!" Tails shouts firing electric balls from his Arm Cannon.

The Grimm manages to get a small electrical charge around Sun and he lets go, shouting as he falls.

"Whoa-oa!"

Blake gasps and immediately springs into action again. She jumps onto and off the railing, using Gambol Shroud's kusarigama form on the crow's nest to swing herself around and catch Sun midair. They land on nearby rocks, with her holding him bridal style.

Sun placed his hand to his heart. "My hero!"

Blake narrowed her eyes at him. "You're not supposed to be here!"

Sun had a deadpan expression. "Yeah!? Well it looks like you can use all the help you can get!"

Blake glares at him and then rolls her eyes. "Ugh. Just shut up and fight!" She drops him.

She runs toward the ship in the water, where the Grimm is firing electric blasts at it. Sun is on the ground, striking a pose on his side with his hand propping up his head. "Yes, ma'am!"

On the ship, the Captain is steering while two of his crew are looking at displays.

"Starboard defenses are down, sir!" The First Mate stated.

"We still got the heavy cannon?" The Captain asked.

"Aye, but it's moving too fast! We can't land a hit!"

Captain grits his teeth. "Argh. How about the engines?"

First Mate nods with a smile. "Fully functional, Captain!"

"Well alright, then!" The Captain grins.

On the deck, Blake is preparing to counter a hit from the Grimm's electric blast, but Sun jumps in between with a laugh of triumph. He uses Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang to deflect it and lands on the heavy cannon, resting his staff on his shoulder with a crooked grin. Tails who was in his Seijimōdo (Sage Mode) who Sējiāto: Biggubōrusupairaru-kyū (Sage Art: Big Ball Spiraling Sphere) thus sending it down to the water.

"Huntsmen!"

Tails, Sun, and Blake turn to the man who has come out onto the upper deck calling them.

"If you can clip its wings and draw it out towards the bow, we could take it!" The Captain said looking at the three.

Blake turns away from the Captain to look up at Sun and Tails.

"I mean, you're the one with the swords." The Monkey Faunus said.

Blake facepalmed. "Ugh."

Sun spins his weapon back into a holstered position and runs toward the Grimm. "Now or never!"

Sun activates three clones and jumps into the air. The first clone springs Blake upward to the second clone, which does the same. The third clone swings her up. Sun waits, laughing and opening up his arms, but then loses his smile in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Blake! Sun! I got an idea! Sun! Get her up here!" Tails shouts.

The two nods as Blake, instead of heading toward him, directs herself above him and lands on his shoulders. They sink a few feet while he grunts and Blake leaps upward off of him. High above the sea dragon, Tails gripped her arm and spun like a mini tornado and threw her up into the air, she begins her descent, avoiding the electric blasts it shoots at her. She runs down its right wing, slicing through the thin membrane. Sun smirks as he waits for her on the rock she's readying to land on and catches her. The impact causes the rock surface to crack around them while he's left holding her bridal style. Blake smiles at him, until he speaks.

Sun grins. "This is the part where you say it."

Blake turns her head away. "Ugh."

The Grimm moves around them, causing the precarious rocky area to collapse. Blake is on the move again, leaving Sun behind and Tails flies to the ship.

"Okay, maybe later!"

Sun jumps off the collapsing rock. The sea dragon Grimm flies after them, knocking rocks down as he goes. The Captain watches from the bridge through a spyglass before throwing a handle and increasing the boat's speed. It sails beside the destructive Grimm, keeping apace. Sun continues to hop around, avoiding the Grimm's attacks until one more move puts him directly in front of its open mouth. Blake swings in on her ribbon and gets him out of reach. The Grimm prepares a blast to get them both in one shot when it is impaled by the bowsprit of the boat.

Captain points at the monster. "Fire!"

The heavy cannon fires and hits the Grimm dead on. Its upper half is blasted to pieces, and it dies immediately. The Captain, the First Mate and Crew Member 02 all cheer. The cheer is upheld by the passengers on the ship who also join in with applause. On their rock, Sun celebrates while Blake smiles and lowers her head in relief.

 **-Music Ends-**

"Ha-ha!" He lifts his hand for a high five. "Up top!"

Blake turns and glares at him. "Grrr…"

Sun wiggles his hand with a grin. "Eh?"

With a cry, Blake swings her arm around to slap him in the face. He rears back in slow-motion and the screen goes black to the sound of her hand making contact with his flesh.

It is nighttime on the middle deck of the ship. Blake is at the railing again, only this time facing sideways.

Sun huffs. "Seriously, it was no big deal!"

Sun is revealed to be talking to two of the Faunus passengers. "Just enjoy the rest of your trip and everything will be cool! We got this!"

The two Faunus, a male with horns and a female with rabbit ears who we saw earlier, wave goodbye and turn away. Sun struts over to Tails and Blake.

Sun sighed. "You'd think they'd never seen a fight before."

"What are you doing here, Sun?" Blake asked.

"Diggin' the new outfit, by the way!" He states pointing to her ears with a flirtatious grin. "Never did like the bow."

Tails smacks his head. "Sun! Chill!"

Sun rubbed the back of his head. "Geez!"

"Have you been following me?!" She asked.

Sun looks a touch abashed. "I saw you run off. The night Beacon Tower fell. Once we landed in Vale, you made sure everyone was okay. And then you just took off, without saying anything."

Blake looks down. "I had to. You wouldn't understand…"

Sun shook his hands. "No, I get it! The moment you left, I knew exactly what you were doing!"

Blake smiles at him, pleased at feeling understood.

"You're going on a one-woman rampage against the White Fang!" Sun said being stupid again.

Blake's happy expression falls. "What?"

"You always felt like the Fang was your fight. They show up, trash your school, hurt your friends. It makes perfect sense!" The Monkey Faunus said with a nod.

Blake frowns. "I can't believe you."

"But there's no way I'm letting you do this alone! It's an honorable approach, for sure, but you're going to need someone to watch your back. And that's where I come in!" Sun putting his arm around her. "Us Faunus got to stick together, after all."

Blake shakes her head as she pushes him off of her. "You're wrong, Sun. You're so, so wrong." Blake turns her back on him and walks away and Tails walks with her.

"What are you…"

"Blake and I are not going anywhere near the White Fang. Not yet." Tails said with his arms crossed.

Sun's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"I need to sort some things out."

Sun arched an eyebrow. "Then why not do it with your team? Your friends?"

"You're one to talk! Assuming Neptune, Sage, and Scarlet aren't hiding below deck!" The Cat Faunus snapped at Sun.

Sun crossed his arms. "You really think I could get Neptune on the ocean? They flew back to Mistral! I told them I'd catch up! It's not the first time I left them to take a boat! So, if you're not going after the White Fang, where are you going?"

"Home, to Menagerie."

"Well, I'm coming with you. The Grimm are getting worse; you saw it yourself! And just because you're not going after the Fang doesn't mean they won't be coming for you! Besides, I'm… kind of already on the boat." Sun said with a smirk.

"There's really no stopping you?" The Fox Boy chuckled.

"Nope! This is going to be great! Never been to Menagerie before! It'll be a regular journey to the east! Yeah, I like the sound of that." Sun said with his smirk getting wider.

Inside Salem's meeting room, Cinder Fall and Salem sit alone at the table. Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai wait by the door. Cinder is breathing heavily with effort while Salem has her right hand casually held out.

"Do you feel it? Don't fight it, girl. It can sense your trepidation. You must make it dread you." Salem's voice said throughout the room.

A soft clicking sound makes Cinder turn toward the door. All is blackness but for a slowly moving forward yellow glow. It is revealed to be inside a jellyfish-based Grimm with long red tentacles and a black and white body. Emerald and Mercury react fearfully to it and pull backward as it enters. It glides its way over to Salem at the head of the table. Once the Seer Grimm reaches her side, she leans closer to it. After a moment, she puts her hands together.

"Cinder, I am going to ask you this one more time, and I expect a clear answer. Did you kill Ozpin?"

Cinder holds her arm out, about to call Emerald over to speak for her. Salem slams both hands onto the table, eyes glowing as she speaks.

Salem narrows her eyes. "No!"

Cinder lowers her arm.

"I want to hear you say it." She said seriously.

Cinder was rasping a few times first before speaking hoarsely. "Yes."

Salem looks at her for a long moment before speaking to the Seer Grimm. "Reinforce our numbers at Beacon. The relic is there."

The Seer Grimm glides away. At the door, Emerald and Mercury draw away from it just as they did before. Salem turns her head thoughtfully, looking in the direction away from Cinder and bringing her fingers to her chin.

"What are you planning?"

 **To be Continued...**


	4. Chapter 4 Family!

_**Hello everyone! What up?! It's your boy MobianHuntsmen 24 back with a new chapter! Ready for another one guys, but one thing. I know I'm hella late since Valentine's Day but this is a shout out for my friend at my school who gave me my Valentine's Day gift who has an account on fanfiction, a way past cool friend, thanks Kirsten! You're the fam! That's all, enjoy! I hope you do too Kirsten!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Sonic goes to SEGA and RWBY goes to Rooster Teeth Productions and Monty Oum!**_

We enter Oscar Pine who carried a pitchfork into the barn, which has loose bits of hay strung about the floor. He passes a sink with a mirror behind it, and something makes him pause and take a closer look. He sees his own reflection and lifts a lock of his hair, as if expecting something different.

He leans forward and examines the mirror more closely. "Hello?"

Just as Oscar is about to back away, a voice booms out, sending him crashing backward. _"Hello! I'm Professor Ozpin!"_

Oscar looks up at the sink and mirror from the floor of the barn, breathing heavily. From outside the barn, a woman's voice calls out.

"Oscar? You be careful with those tools!" The Woman said.

" _What was that about?"_ The Farm Boy pondered shaking his head.

 **-Music: [ Event ] Mephiles' Whisper (Sonic the Hedgehog 2006)-**

Yang Xiao Long is inside a nightmare. All around her are broken pieces of buildings and darkness. She looks around, confused, and lets out a small gasp when she looks down. She raises both of her arms and turns them, examining their presence, particularly her right arm. Yang looks up from her arms to see Adam Taurus walking toward her. The red accents in his hair, mask and outfit have a surreal glow. Yang steps back defensively and discovers that she is suddenly wearing Ember Celica. She blasts Adam five times, but they do nothing to him while he steadily continues walking closer. Adam puts his right hand on the handle of his sheathed sword. Yang tries to attack him again, but her weapon is gone, as is her right arm. She stares for a moment in confusion and disbelief and then startles when Adam is abruptly directly before her. He grins at her and starts to unsheath Wilt from Blush. Yang awakens with a gasp. She is in her room, lying on top of her bed. The robotic arm given to her by General Ironwood rests on her bedside table, out of the box. Yang looks at it for a moment before turning her face away. She hears laughter coming from downstairs. Yang heads downstairs to discover Professors Oobleck and Port sitting at her kitchen table and laughing with her father, Taiyang Xiao Long. There's a bowl of fruit at the center of the table.

 **-Music Ends-**

 _ **(A/N: If you're wonder why Adam in her nightmare except Knuckles is that she's getting a vision.)**_

"And, and, and then, in comes Qrow, wearing a skirt! I was just a TA, I-I didn't know what to do, so I just… I just left the room to laugh!" Port laughed.

Yang comes to the kitchen door while the three laugh.

Taiyang snickers. "We told him it was a kilt! He'd never worn a uniform before, so he didn't know!"

Oobleck shook his head in disapproval. "That is terrible! What is wrong with you!?"

"Hey! The girls all said he had nice legs! I did that jerk a favor! Besides, that's not even the best part! See, then we-"

Port puts his right leg on the tabletop, cutting off Taiyang. ""Like what you see?""

The three laugh and Port loses his balance. He tries to save himself from falling, but ends up on the floor.

"Whoa-oh!" The Big Man cried.

There's even more laughter. Taiyang claps from mirth and Port joins in the hilarity from the floor. Yang giggles too, covering her mouth, but the three teachers become alerted to her presence. Oobleck stands while Port gets up off the floor.

 **-Music: Family (Sonic X)-**

Port dusts himself off. "Oh, uh, Miss Xiao Long! Uh, please, join us. May I ask, where is Knuckles?"

Yang enters while Oobleck laughs, a little bit embarrassed but that changed when she heard her boyfriend's name. "I don't know… Dad?"

"He's in the shed. He was working on something, I didn't ask." Taiyang answered looking at the lit shed as he heard faint sounds of tools being used. "But join us."

Oobleck nods eagerly. "Oh, yes, yes, pull up a chair. Please, pull up a chair."

Yang rose her hand. "I'm good. So, what are you doing here?" She hoists herself backward up onto the kitchen counter, beside where her father stands as Port and Oobleck sit back down.

"Despite popular belief, teachers do have a life outside the classroom." The Caffeinated Man answered with a smile on his face.

"Professor Goodwitch is working 'round the clock to restore Beacon to its former glory! But, wasn't built in a day. And we all need rest from time to time." Port added.

"Now look, let's not worry about that right now. So, there we were, standing in the auditorium, looking at Qrow, wearing a skirt. Then Oz tells everyone, "It's time to work on our landing strategy!"" Taiyang said grinning like a fool.

Oobleck rubs his chin. "The Branwen twins have always been… interesting, to say the least."

Port chuckled. "That sure didn't seem to stop young Tai."

Taiyang frowned at the two. "Hey, come on, man, she's right here."

Port scoffed at Taiyang for that little overprotective statement. "Oh, please! She's a mature young woman! If she can handle combat, she can handle a few jabs at her old man!"

"That's not the issue, Pete! And besides, she's still a teenager!"

""She" is also in the room, and can be directly spoken to. And I think I've been through enough to be considered an adult at this point." Yang piped in pointing her thumb to herself.

Taiyang sighed. "Adult or not, you've still got a long way to go before you're ready for the real world."

Yang feign a gasp as she bore a scowl. "Oh my gosh! Does every father figure have the same three condescending phrases?"

"Yeah! But we only use them when we mean it!" Taiyang scolded narrowing his eyes.

Port and Oobleck look at each other as father and daughter argue, a touch uncomfortable. Oobleck takes a sip from his mug while Port pulls at his collar.

"Is that so?" She asked.

Taiyang crossed his arms as he nods. "As a matter of fact, it is so! If you honestly think that you're ready to go out there on your own, ha, well I guess you lost some brain cells along with that arm."

Yang gasps and pulls back from her father's face while a stunned Port leans forward and Oobleck's mouth drops open and his glasses slip down. There's a comedic beat before the mug slips out of Oobleck's hand to safely land on the table. All three stare at Taiyang for a few seconds.

"You… jerk!" Yang huffed but she smiled. Then she playfully punches Taiyang, and the father and daughter laugh together.

"Are we finally talking about the Goliath in the room?" Oobleck whispered to Port.

Taiyang and Yang look at each other and then laugh but then relieved laughter comes from both Port and Oobleck.

"Oh, Miss Xiao L— Yang, if you don't mind me asking, why haven't you tried on the arm yet?" Port inquired looking at her amputated arm.

Oobleck glanced at her with curious eyes. "Oh, yes, yes! A piece of Atlas technology given out like that is rare indeed! Not to mention the effort it took to deliver it here. It seems a great many people want to see you returned to normal."

Yang sighed as she looks at the window gazing at the moon. "I'm… scared."

Taiyang takes a sideways step closer to Yang, watching and listening.

"Everyone keeps talking about me getting back to normal. And I appreciate it, but… this is normal now." Yang continued as she turned to her missing limb.

Oobleck and Port exchange sad, knowing glances.

"It's just taking me awhile to get used to it."

"Well, normal is what you make of it." Taiyang stated.

Yang turned to her father. "What is that supposed to mean? Do you want me to just pretend like nothing happened? I lost a part of me. A piece of me is gone. And it's never coming back."

Taiyang closed his eyes. "You're right. It's not coming back. But that doesn't have to stop you from becoming who you wanna be. You're Yang Xiao Long, my sunny little dragon. You can do whatever you put your mind to. So whenever you're ready to stop moping, and get back out there, I'll be there for you." He puts his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"I... I…" Yang had a lone tear fall from her eye as she smiled a bit.

"Fear is like any other emotion. It comes and goes. It's all in how you handle it. Why, even myself always attempt to rid of myself with that emotion from time to time." A gruff voice said as everyone in the room turned to see a person which Yang had a slightly tense expression on her face.

The teen had red hair but in a ponytail but with his bangs above his eyes, he had violet eyes, he was Faunus with an echidna tail, wearing a persian red sleeveless shirt with a white crest on the chest, white gloves with two small spikes on his knuckles, wearing Rosso corsa colored pants, and wore red shoes with a orange thick line with a grey sextuple on it. His name is Knuckles Geb!

"Really? You?" Yang asked being unconvinced by her boyfriend's words.

Knuckles sighed as opened the refrigerator door grabbing a water bottle. "I'm scared of myself Yang. If you think I'm kidding then I must've hit you too hard on the head. My point is that you're not the only one who is afraid… my anger. My ancestors… my friends… they all tell me get control of my anger. There are incidents where my anger gotten myself and my friends killed, I regretted those days… but then that incident… I couldn't find the courage to tell you that I am… I'm… sorry. Looking at your missing arm makes me feel like a monster. Now, I understand how Blake feels… I understand that you're pissed off at me Yang and I don't deserve talking to you but I can't run from this. If you don't want to be with me anymore then I get it. What was I thinking of dating anyway… that's all I needed to say. You all can go back to your conversation, just pretend that I am not here. I don't care anyway." He began to make his way to the door till he felt a strong grip on his wrist, he turned his head to see the arm of Yang to be cause.

 **-Music: What Hurts the Most (Cascada)-**

"Idiot… how can you say that? I-I I'm not blaming you for the loss of my arm! It was my fault! I was enjoying the moment and I got carried away! It was my carelessness that caused my injury! It was all my fault!" Yang croaked as she tried to stop the tears but failing. "It was all me! It was-"

Before the sad girl can continue her self-blame, she opened her teary eyes to find herself in the arms of her somber boyfriend. Yang lifts her head up slightly to see the tears of Knuckles, she wiped her tears away and then smiled which turned into a big grin as she laid her head on his chest. Taiyang, Oobleck, and Port smiled at the scene, Taiyang closes his eyes.

" _I was worried that they'll stop loving each other… but I guess being patient really pays off. Knuckles, you may have dismembered my daughter but you have scrounged the courage to say your abjectance. I guess Sonic was right, you maybe have a fire like my little sun dragon but you have foundation of the highest mountain."_ Taiyang thought as he opened his eyes.

"You big ol' knucklehead." Yang teased as a pink hue appeared on her cheeks.

Knuckles chuckled as he rubs her back. "If I'm the knucklehead, then you're the hothead."

The jocular Yang giggled but she punched his arm playfully. "I guess so roc-"

Port banged on the table. "They bring only disease and famine!"

Yang and Knuckles share their laughter while Port rants about the creepiness of mice while Taiyang watches the two adolescents, then he saw their hands, their fingers interlocked.

"And don't even get me started on their tails! So hairless, and simply unnatural!" Port lamented as he cringes.

Oobleck laughs at the expense of the corpulent man. "Port, I assure you, you are safe. There's no mice here right now."

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: Off-Set (T.I. & Young Thug)-**

The scene transitions to Yang and Knuckles taking the last steps to the shed. Yang wanted to see what her lover was working on. As the pair enter the wooden shed, then Knuckles turned on the lights to have his girlfriend looking at a cover but seeing the shape of the object under the covers.

"What is it?" The Blonde Brawler inquired arching an eyebrow.

The Echidna Faunus smirked as he gripped the cover. "Be patient young grasshopper. I call this monster the Āsuraputā or in English the "Earth Raptor"."

Knuckles removed the covers revealing his work which made Yang's eyes widen in surprise as she whistled in admiration. Then she walks around the Earth Raptor checking it out from front to back and she was impressed of her lover's handiwork.

"Pretty slick Rad Red, I bet it'll go far but not far as my Bumblebee!" She bloviates with her big grin.

Knuckles arched a eyebrow but he smirked shaking his head. "Hate to disappoint you Fire Girl but this will surprise you. This will surpass your Bumblebee. 1000's motor is a 4-Stroke SOHC Twin Cylinder based upon their proven 850 twin with a higher bore and stroke numbers pumping up displacement to 952 cubic centimeters and make this beautiful looking beast to a top speed of about 120 km/h (80 mph)."

Yang's jaw dropped after hearing that. "No in hell way! You'll definitely smoke me out! My Bumblebee runs on a Inline 4 that generates 310 HP at 998 CC… wait! My bike can totally beat yours!"

"Wanna prove it?" Knuckles asked knowing where this conversation is going.

Yang yawns. "Not really Rad Red. Maybe next time, we got training to do!"

"Are you sure about that? You had your sliced off by my anger, I'm not sure if you can handle it." Knuckles said with his eyes closed scratching his head.

"I told you. I can handle it. We promised on it so stop being like my dad already, if I am going to be part of this big plan of Sonic's then we got to be at the top of our game! So we're training tomorrow at daybreak right?" She asked with her lilac eyes filled with determination.

He sighed shaking his head. "Alright then Yang. Training at daybreak and we got a lot of catching up to do! To keep up with the others, I'll talk to Tai to help us out with this. Go get some rest."

"Yeah, goodnight Knuckie." Yang winked kissing his lips and walked out of the shed.

A flustered Knuckles chuckled in amusement but he remembered a certain batgirl who always calls him "Knuckie". _"I wonder how Rouge is doing… also the Master Emerald too…"_ He thought gazing at the night sky as he shuts the door.

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: Frog Forest (Sonic Heroes)-**

On a path through the woods, Team SPRNJR moves forward with Ruby looking at a map.

"Come on, guys! If we pick up the pace, we can hit the next town before sunset!" Ruby said with enthusiasm.

Jaune looks at the 17 year old. "Assuming it's still there."

"Of course it'll be there. This one's supposed to be pretty big! Hee-gan…bayn-a." Ruby struggled to say the location right.

"Higanbana. It's a well protected village with a popular inn." Ren said helping Ruby out.

Nora smiled widely. "Which means, no camping in the rain!"

Ruby grins widely. "See? Everything's going to be fine!"

"You know, we've had a lot of ups and downs. But things could be a lot worse. I really thought we'd see more Grimm and it's quite unnerving really." Sonic added his two cents in thus scratching his head.

"I agree with Sonic that statement." Pyrrha said.

"I guess our luck is finally turning around!

The scene changes to Team SPRNJR being viewed from above, a rocky outcropping just on the edge of the view.

Nora points straight ahead. "To Higanbana!"

"To Higanbana!" Jaune and Ren repeated in unsion.

"To Higanban… ban-a!" Ruby fixed her sentence.

A Beowolf stomps into view and growls at the four kids. Just as it is about to leap, it is stabbed through by Qrow. Three disintegrating bodies of other Beowolves are just behind him A black crow caws from a tree branch on eye level with Qrow. He looks at it and it flies off, following SPRNJR.

"Luck." Qrow scoffed.

 **-Music Ends-**

It's raining on the village of Higanbana. Through the window of an inn, the seven kids are shown silently discussing with the proprietor. A backward zooms brings the visual out into the street, and through yet another window being viewed from the inside of a tavern. Qrow sits at a table, watching.

A waitress sets a glass with liquor and ice in front of him.

Qrow turns to the waitress. "Oh, I didn't o—"

"From the woman upstairs. Red eyes. Said you wouldn't mind bottom shelf." The Waitress said.

Qrow turns and looks up. An overhead shot shows the spacious lower level of the tavern and its several round tables, while the edge of a balcony is just visible. Qrow turns back. "Thanks."

The Waitress winks at him. "But I went ahead and gave you top. Lucky you."

With a pleased smirk, Qrow watches the waitress as she walks away. After she is gone, he looks through the two windows to see no one visible in the lobby of the inn. "Yeah."

He takes his glass and heads upstairs. Raven Branwen waits for him at one of the tables, her mask atop it.

"Hello, brother." Raven greeted.

Qrow stares at her from the top of the stairs for a moment before moving to her. "Raven."

He pulls the chair that's beside her and drags it to a position across from her instead. With his hand on the back of the chair, he simply looks at her expectantly. Raven rolls her eyes and moves her mask to the side as Qrow sits down.

"So, what do you want?" The Drunk Scythe User inquired taking a sip of his alcohol.

Raven had a small smile on her face. "A girl can't just catch up with her family?"

Qrow narrowed his eyes a bit. "She can, but you're not. Now how 'bout we get on with it? Unless you plan on keeping these comin'." He sets the glass down.

"Does she have it?" She asked.

Qrow doesn't answer right away, instead running his fingertip along the edge of his glass. "Did you know Yang lost her arm?"

Raven arched an eyebrow. "That's not—"

"Rhetorical question, I know you know. It's just obnoxious that you'd bring up family and then carry on like your own daughter doesn't exist." Qrow snuffed.

"I saved her."

"Once. Because that was your rule, right? Real "Mom of the Year" material, sis."

Raven leans forward and grabs Qrow by the forearm, stilling his sarcastic, nonchalant motions. The view slowly spins above their heads as she speaks intently to him. "I told you Beacon would fall and it did. I told you Ozpin would fail and he has. Now you tell me. Does. Salem. Have it?"

"I thought you weren't interested in all of that." He plainly states.

"I just want to know what we are up against." Raven said seriously.

Qrow closed his eyes. "And which "we" are you referring to?"

Raven glares and finally lets go of her brother and sits back down with a noise of disgust. "..."

Qrow shook his head. "You should come back, Raven. The only way we'd beat her is by working together. All of us."

Raven's red eyes looked at her brother. "You're the one who left. The tribe raised us, and you turned your back on them."

Qrow slowly applied pressure to his cup trying to quell his rising anger. "They were killers and thieves."

"They were your family Qrow." Raven seethed narrowing her eyes.

"You have a very skewed perception of that word."

Raven stands up clearly upset. "I lead our people now. And as leader, I will do everything in my power to ensure our survival."

Qrow rolls his eyes. "I saw. The people of Shion saw, too."

"The weak die, the strong live. Those are the rules." She said seriously with venom in her voice.

"Well, you've certainly got someone strong on your side. I've seen the damage."

Raven turns away. "We couldn't have known the Grimm would set in as quickly as they did."

Qrow sighs as he looks at the window. "I'm not talking about the Grimm."

Still not facing Qrow, Raven looks up, eyes widening slightly at his words.

"And I'm not talking about you, either."

"If you don't know where the relic is, then we have nothing left to talk about." Raven said coldly.

As she reaches for her mask, Qrow grabs onto the top of it.

"I don't know where the Spring Maiden is, either, but if you do, I need you to tell me." Qrow was determined to get answers out of his sister.

"And why would I do that?" Raven asked as she pulls her mask out of Qrow's grasp)

Qrow narrows his eyes again. "Because without her, we're all going to die."

A moment of tense silence passes between them as a nearby lantern dies out.

Raven scoffs. "And which "we" are you referring to?"

Qrow grimaces as Raven walks away. The sound of her sword getting unsheathed is heard and he looks up, unhappy. Raven walks into her red portal and disappears. There's the sound of breaking glass and a gasp. Qrow turns to see the waitress, trembling at the sight of Raven disappearing. She takes a cautious step backward as she looks sideways at Qrow.

"Make this one a double." Qrow said gesturing to his glass.

 **-Music: Plus Ultra (Boku no Hero Academia)-**

Back at Patch, Taiyang and Knuckles are outside the house, watering his bed of sunflowers. Yang comes out, wearing the robotic arm. She uses it automatically to shade her eyes from the sun, and then looks down at the metal hand interestedly, moving the fingers around as Taiyang stands.

Taiyang grins as he pops his knuckles. "Okay. Let's get started."

 **To be Continued...**

 _ **If you guys are wondering what Knuckles' new ride is like, then head to my profile, copy and paste the link.**_


	5. Chapter 5 Menagerie!

_**You all ready for the 5th chapter?! Are you ready?! Alright let's go- wait! Wait! One thing, expect some light Tails x Blake in this chapter! That's all, enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Sonic goes to SEGA and RWBY goes to Rooster Teeth Productions and Monty Oum!**_

 **-Music: Seaside Hill (Sonic Heroes)-**

An air horn sounds loudly. The black screen cuts to an off ramp being lowered on the ship bearing Blake Belladonna, Miles "Tails" Prower Uzumaki, and Sun Wukong to allow passengers to disembark. The town has many small buildings and homes set among dunes and palm trees. The town bell that has been ringing is shown in its belfry. The trio make their way from the deck to the off ramp. Blake and Tails proceeds without pause while Sun stops to look at the town.

"Huh."

Several Faunus in summer wear meander casually at the dock, some waiting for friends or family among the new arrivals. The dock is also a commercial area, with mobile kiosks selling food and other wares. It is a relaxed atmosphere on a sunny day.

Sun is looking around while he and Blake disembark and walk through the market area together. "I've never seen so many Faunus in one place!"

Blake nods confirming Sun's awestruck feelings. "This is the one place everyone can feel safe, no matter who or what they are."

"Wow, sure is, uh, crowded, huh?" The Monkey Faunus inquired.

Blake sweat drops. "Yes. Yes, it is."

Sun dodged a Faunus carrying a box. "Is it always so… cramped?"

"Well, when you try and take an entire species and put them on an island that's two-thirds desert, yeah, it tends to be cramped." Tails spoke up.

Sun's eyes widen. "What! You guys have that much more space? Why waste it? A little desert never hurt anyone!"

"It's not like the desert in Vacuo, Sun. The wildlife here is more dangerous than most other regions." The Cat Faunus stated.

Sun sighed with a irksome look. "So, they give us a terrible island, in the corner of Remnant, to try and shut us up."

"That's a pretty good summary, yeah."

"Huh. Jerks." He huffed.

"We try to make the best of things." She added with a positive note.

The three pause in their walk to look at the view of the town the road affords. The road they are on goes downhill and to the side, bordered by palm trees and homes that have either canvas or wood roofs. The vista of palm trees spreads out to the edge of mountainous dunes in the distance. Right in the middle of all this is a large house with an open courtyard that the road appears to lead directly to. The house is at least three stories and is the only building in the whole area with a sophisticated roof.

"Whoa…" Tails and Sun said in unison.

"This, is Kuo Kuana." Blake states looking around.

"It's… beautiful. I take it all back. This place looks great! Why would anyone ever want to leave?" The Fox Boy asked in awe.

"That's not the point, Tails! We asked to be equal, to be treated just like everyone else! Instead, we were given an island and told to make do. So we did the best we could. We came together and we made a home where any Faunus could feel welcome. But this island, this town, will always be a reminder that we're still not equal." Blake said lowering her face. "That we're still second-class citizens."

Tails placed his hand on her shoulder. "Well, hey, Sun and myself are feeling pretty at home."

Blake closed her eyes wondering how she can put up with them. "Alright, time to go home."

Sun perked up when she said that statement. "Oh yeah? Which one's yours? Can you see it from here?" Sun uses his free hand like a visor to help him peer at the houses.

"Kind of." She said feeling awkward.

"Is it that one?" The Blonde Monkey Boy asked pointing away from Blake. "What about that tiny one down there?"

Blake takes Sun's intruding arm by the wrist and directing it toward the large house. "It's… that one."

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: Cutscene - Normal (Sonic Rush Adventure)-**

Sun stares for a second before pointing his finger at her with a questioning expression. Blake nods. Sun looks at her for a beat before taking his arm off her and stepping back. He covers the sides of his head and crouches a bit, staring wide-eyed at the house and making a comical, amazed noise.

Blake, Tails, and Sun walk up the stone steps to the front door of the house. Blake hesitates when she moves to use the knocker.

"What is it?" Tails asked feeling her hesitation.

"I um… it's just been a long time since I've seen my parents." Blake states feeling dicey as she rubs the back of her head.

"Well, you came all this way." Sun chipped in.

Blake takes a quick breath for courage, but she saw Tails' gloved hand above hers as she looks at Tails who had a smile on his face and nods, she had a faint blush on her cheeks as herself and Tails bangs the door knocker. It makes a loud, heavy, resonating sound on the large door. Sun stares up, stepping back while Blake politely backs away from the door a few paces thus making the Fox Boy mirror their action.

Sun points up at the door. "Okay, if we're being honest, that's kind of intimidating." He gulps.

Both Sun, Tails, Blake give a start at the sound of the door being opened. Kali Belladonna, a short, female cat Faunus is behind it, looking around at the visitors. Her ears perk and she moves the door out of the way so she can step forward when she recognizes her daughter.

"Blake?" Kali asked having an incredulous expression.

"Hi, mom." Blake greeted feeling troublesome as she waved slowly.

Kali steps forward and hugs her daughter. "My baby girl."

Blake hesitates, uncertain for a moment, before her face gentles into a smile and she hugs her mother back. They stand in front of open doorway. From inside the house, footsteps come closer and a shadow falls onto the carpeted entryway. Kali lets go of Blake and turns behind her at the sound of Ghira Belladonna's voice.

"Kali? Who is it?" Ghira's voice asked.

Ghira stand with his hands on his hips, waiting to greet the visitor. His quizzical expression changes to wide-eyed surprise, before his hands, shoulders, and face all fall in a clear, emotional reaction to the sight of his daughter come home. Sun sees this and grins, pleased at Blake's welcome as he turns to look at how she's taking it. Blake has her hands clasped in front of her, awaiting her father's reaction. Kali has not let go, with her hands supportively on Blake's shoulder and arm. Ghira says nothing, but smiles, clearly happy. Blake smiles back, relieved. Tails and Sun exchange sideways glances.

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: Footbath of Warmth (Sen no Kiseki 2)-**

Kali sets down her cup on the table. She, Ghira, Sun, Tails, and Blake all sit on the floor at a square table.

"We were horrified when we heard the news. The Kingdom of Vale isn't perfect, but it certainly didn't deserve what happened. Oh, we were both so worried." Kali said in a fretful tone.

"Please, I knew she'd be fine!" Ghira said with pride.

Kali scoffs at her husband's statement. "That isn't the slightest bit true. You should have seen him pacing."

Tails gently places the cup on the table as he smiled looking at Kali and Ghira. "Mr and Ms. Belladonna, I have seen Blake in action before. I've seen the glorious movesets and fighting styles of every huntsmen and huntress and I felt a great honor bestowed upon myself and my friends who witnessed such professional fighting styles in the battlefield. When myself saw firsthand of Blake's fighting style it reminded me of Shadow's 'Kage No Michi' (The Way of the Shadow) except it's more graceful, elegant, and fierce. If Sonic was able to give her a name based her skillset and moves, she should be named "Kurome Neko" meaning 'black iris cat'. Your moniker is after the Greek Goddess of the Rainbow 'Iris'. So you're special Blake, you don't even realize it. If you're asking what my name is in the world of martial arts, it's "Kaminari Kitsune"."

Blake, who was sipping from her cup while Tails spoke, her blush visible and she bore a smile. "... thanks Tails…" She muttered.

"Hey Tails! What's my moniker if I was training with you guys?! I'm curious about mine!" Sun eagerly with a large smile.

Tails rubbed his chin as he was brainstorming till he snapped his fingers. "Himawari Reichō-rui (Helianthus Primate)! You're a primate that represents the solar fireball in the sky."

"My name sounds so badass! Sounds special as yours Blake! Probably more awesome!" Sun said happily placing his arm around Blake's shoulder.

"And what exactly do you mean by that, Mr. Wukong?" Ghira glared at the Monkey Faunus.

Sun freezes and slowly turns toward his host. "I… uh, well, you see sir, it's just that, you know, that she's such a good fighter and all, uh, and as a fellow fighter, I have a lot of respect for her…"

Kali leans in to ask quietly. "Why is he here again?"

Sun sweat drops. "...And her fighting. But also for her…"

"He just kind of followed us here." Tails sipped his tea.

Sun frowned and grits his teeth about till he faces Blake's mother. "...because of her fighting. Not her looks. I mean, not to say she's not good-looking. She is! Very! Or…"

"I see."

Sun sighed. "… slightly, I mean she's definitely above average. I mean, uh…"

Sun struggles for words as all three Belladonnas watch him and wait for him to either get out of the hole he just talked himself into or keep digging. In the awkward silence, Sun uses his tail to pick up the tea kettle and pour some more tea into his cup.

"This tea is really good." The Monkey Faunus sweats as he sips his tea. "Heh-uh."

"I like him, especially Tails." Kali said with a smile making Tails blush but cough violently.

Blake's eyes widen. "Mom!"

The loud sound of the front door knocker resonates, catching everyone's attention.

Ghira groans in annoyance. "Darn it, I completely forgot about the meeting!" He hits his fist onto the table and Kali quickly covers it with her hand.

"Ghira…" Kali sighed shaking her head.

Ghira stands up. "Give me a moment." He walks out.

Blake arched an eyebrow. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, dear, just poor timing. He can reschedule. It's just been hard dealing with them lately." Kali explained.

"Dealing with who?" Tails asked.

Kali sipped her tea. "Hmm? The White Fang."

The trio stood up immediately like lightning. "WHAT?!"

The trio rush to the door, where Ghira is speaking with two fox Faunus, Corsac Albain and Fennec Albain. The two visitors maintain respectful, formal postures, keeping their hands clasped before them.

"Dad!" Blake cried.

Ghira turns to his daughter her companions. "Blake, what's wrong?"

Corsac smiles. "Miss Belladonna."

Fennec bows. "We had no idea you'd returned."

Every time either one of the two Albain brothers speaks, they gesture with their hands and end with clasping their hands before their chests again.

"What are you doing talking to these people?" The Black Cat asked narrowing her eyes at the two men.

"This is Corsac and Fennec Albain. They represent the White Fang here in Menagerie now." The Big Man said introducing them.

Sun's eyes widen in horror. "Those psychos are here, too?!"

"Young man, I'm not sure what you've heard of our organization, but I can assure you, we're not nearly as ferocious as the media would have you believe." Fennec said.

"What we've heard?! We've seen firsthand! Your fanatics slaughtered people!" Tails growled balling his fist as his pupils turn silt.

"What is he talking about?" Ghira asked narrowing his eyes.

"Precisely what we came to discuss with you, Your Grace." Corsac said

"Is everything alright?" Kali asked coming to the door.

"Wait, you guys seriously don't know?" The Monkey Faunus asked didn't realize that the Fall of Beacon was widespread.

"Know what?" Ghira asked dangerously.

"The White Fang was at the Fall of Beacon. They attacked innocent civilians and they released Grimm into the school." Tails answered trying to control himself.

There is a brief silence. Fennec makes an innocent, sideways glance at his brother. Ghira slowly turns to face the two White Fang representatives.

"Is this true?"

Fennec nods. "Sadly, Your Grace, it is."

"Don't act like you're s—" Blake began her phrase.

Ghira balled his fist. "That's enough! Explain yourselves!"

"Though it pains us to admit, it has become apparent that the Vale branch of the White Fang is no longer operating under orders of High Leader Khan. Rather, they've elected to follow the rule of one Adam Taurus. I believe you're all familiar with the young adept and his… extreme philosophies." Fennec muttered the last part.

Sun crossed his arms. "You know, Beacon wasn't the first time the Fang started shooting up Vale!"

"The High Council had their suspicions of a splinter group, but they could prove nothing until this latest incident." Fennec said.

""Incident"? People are dead!" Blake hissed.

"And it is a tragedy." Corsac said with regret in his voice.

"Your Grace, we came to assure you that Brother Taurus and his followers do not represent the will of the White Fang." Fennec looks at Ghira with false sincerity.

Ghira arched an eyebrow. "And how can I be sure of that?"

"We understand if you bear any skepticism towards these claims. The White Fang's tactics are admittedly, more aggressive since you stepped down as High Leader and became Chieftain of Menagerie. But this, this is no way to make our message heard." Corsac said.

Fennec nods. "We have ample documentation from the council meeting, as well as several strategies to apprehend and punish these strays if you care to review them."

Ghira closes his three. "I will, but another day. I'd like some time to reconnect with my daughter and her companion."

Corsac nods. "But of course, Your Grace."

"We completely understand. It was a pleasure to see you again, young Blake." Fennec said kindly as he bows.

"We were saddened when we heard of your departure from the White Fang, but understand if you can no longer support our cause." Corsac said bowing also.

"It is a wearying fight, after all."

"Who says I'm done fighting?" Tails asked as he rose his hand as electricity sparked around it.

"Hmm... If you ever do wish to return, you need merely come find us." Corsac said with a small smile.

Fennec nods in agreement. "Sister Ilia would be elated."

"Goodbye, gentlemen." Ghira said.

He firmly closes the door on them. Kali moves to stand closer and face her husband while Blake walks off.

Sun shivers. "So... those guys were creepy."

Ghira glares at Sun. "I really don't like you."

Outside, the two brothers descend the steps, perfectly in sync and their formally clasped hands. Corsac, however, is now using the prayer posture that Fennec had been using all along.

Fennec chuckles. "An interesting development, wouldn't you say?"

"Interesting indeed." Corsac said with a sinister tone.

"So, shall we inform Brother Adam?" Fennec inquired

Corsac nods. "Oh, we shall."

They exchange unsettling grins.

 **-Music Ends-**

Back at the tavern in Higanbana, the waitress is scrubbing the floor. The sound of approaching footsteps cease when a voice addresses her, making the waitress look up.

"Excuse me. (licking lips) I was hoping you could… help me find someone." Tyrian said grinning.

Tyrian laughs maniacally as the camera fades to black, showing only his eyes, before they fade to black as well.

 **To Be Continued...**


	6. Chapter 6 Tipping Point!

_**Yo! What up people?! Back on the writing attack ya know what I'm saying, well one thing. I'm going to a friend's house tomorrow since School will be closed due to "Teacher Planning" so once I'm done with this chapter, I'll post this up. That's all, let's do this! Oh and one more thing, in my profile, I'll place in links (in plain text) for you all to see all members of Team SSKT in this installment. Go check it out.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Sonic belongs to SEGA and RWBY goes to Rooster Teeth Productions and Monty Oum!**_

It is a cloudy day, and SPRNJR is following a mossy stone tile path through the wilderness. While walking, Nora Valkyrie stretches her arms up wide.

"Another day, another adventure!" She chirped.

Beside her, Jaune Arc reads a map while Ruby Rose and Lie Ren continue alongside them.

"What's on the agenda today?" Ruby asked.

"Walking!" Jaune answered.

Nora arched an eyebrow. "With a side of...?"

"Walking." Ren answered.

Ruby sighs. "Haven is a lot farther away than I thought."

"Ruby? How long did you think this journey was going to take?" Pyrrha Nikos inquired.

"I don't know! I grew up in a small area; I've never been this far away from home!" The Young Reaper Girl states in exasperation.

"Right but… how long?" Sonic Maruti asked his girlfriend.

Ruby looks at the ground gently tilting side-to-side. "Maybe like, uh… two weeks?"

Jaune looks up from the map to glare at her. "What?!"

Ruby rose her hands in surprise. "Okay, fine! Three or something! Look, whatever."

Sonic looks up again after a beat and notices something ahead. "Hey, what's that?"

Nora jumps onto a slightly fallen post of a fence to get a closer look at a wall and building ahead.

Jaune looks at the map. "That's… strange. I didn't think we'd be hitting another village for a few days."

"Are those buildings… damaged?" Nora asked as her eyes slowly widening.

"We should search for survivors!" Pyrrha states as Sonic runs ahead of everyone and Pyrrha follows.

Jaune drops the map and all six go running into the village, with Nora leaping onto the wall and to a rooftop from there. They discover the town to be empty. Ruby lifts a fallen plank of wood to find only plant outgrowth underneath.

 **-Music: End of the World (Sonic the Hedgehog 2006)-**

"Anything?" Ruby asks hoping her friends have better luck than herself.

"Nothing over here!"

"No one over here, either!"

"It almost seems like... the town was abandoned." Ren said gazing at the incomplete and damaged buildings.

Sonic looks around while the others go offscreen, feeling unease in the wind, as the breeze passes by, he narrows his eyes. _"Someone is here… and whoever it is it's not friendly!"_ Sonic thought grimly.

"Hey, I think I found something!" Nora called getting everyone's attention.

Ruby and Sonic rushes over as Pyrrha, Nora, Jaune and Ren are looking at a town sign. Nora moves the ivy growing over it to the side to read what it says.

Nora arched an eyebrow. "Oniyuri? Never heard of it."

Jaune scratched his head. "Me neither."

"I have."

The other four look at him with surprise on their faces.

"You might think of it as Anima's Mountain Glenn, had it never been completed. Years ago, the richest members of Mistral were unhappy with how the Kingdom was being run." Ren states looking at the various unfinished buildings, disrepair and neglect of the village. "Frustrated with the council, they pooled their resources together to build their own city, with their own laws. They hoped that one day, it could maybe even become its own Kingdom. Many thought it would be the future."

Ren walks away from the group. "I know my parents did."

"What happened bud?" Sonic asked taking in this revelation.

Ren brushes some dirt off of the stone border of a low wall to reveal claw marks. "What always happens."

"The Grimm." Pyrrha said covering her mouth in realization.

Ren tightens his hands into fists. "Not just any, one."

Ruby briefly faces Nora in confusion, but Nora doesn't move her concerned gaze away from Ren. Ruby turns back to him and then to Sonic who had his eyes closed.

"One?"

Several small black birds take off from a tree outside Oniyuri's wall. They fly over the village and the six travelers.

"Come on. Let's just get through here, not that it creeps me out but I'm getting a dark vibe around here." The Azure Faunus said seriously walking off.

Ren turns and leaves, soon followed by Nora. Ren lingers for a moment for a few moments, seemingly in thought, then follows. Ruby is the last to move as she looks over the empty village. Leaves blow through behind her after she follows her friends.

 **-Music Ends-**

Dramatic, feminine vocalizing is heard. The broken moon shines brightly to the sound of Weiss Schnee and Shadow Donovan singing. The duo stands alone on a large, empty stage, with Weiss singing a wordless aria, her arms outstretched. She is perfectly positioned below the center of the painted emblem of Atlas that dominates the stage. The song changes to emphatic lyrics as Shadow joins his voice with hers.

 _"I'm not your pawn, not another thing you own.  
I was not born guilty of your crimes.  
The riches and your influence can't hold me anymore.  
I won't be possessed,  
burdened by your royal test.  
I will not surrender.  
This life is mine."_

Weiss and Shadow concludes their song and bows while the audience applauds. Weiss looks up to the balcony above stage left where her father and brother are watching. Jacques Schnee remains seated, not applauding, while Whitley Schnee is standing giving a slower paced, sarcastic clap. Weiss looks back at the audience, all clapping still in their seats. She turns and walks backstage, her feigned smile replaced with a frown. A waiter carrying martini glasses on a tray opens up a door and enters the ballroom where people mill about to soft piano notes. He holds the tray next to a young man, who takes a glass before walking off. A blonde woman in a dark green halter dress stops to look at the waiter before moving on as the background conversations is audible.

"Need anything else?" The Second Waiter asked.

A Blonde Woman shook her head. "No." The blonde walks up to a man.

"Hey. Nice dress." A Dark Haired Man complimented her.

The Blonde Woman turns to the Dark Haired Man. "What, this old thing?"

The Dark Haired Man smirks. "Heh. Didn't you enjoy the performance?"

The Blonde Woman nods with a small blush and smile. "Yes, the pair have very lovely voices."

The camera pans the room, showing a number of dressed up people as the waiter moves across the room. On the far opposite end of the room is a display area with three large paintings and two abstract statues. To one side Jacques is conversing with a man in glasses and a gray-haired woman in a green dress. They are laughing. Weiss and Shadow is behind her father, looking at the floor with her hands held firmly behind her back and Whitley stands similar further behind their father, only his gaze is directly on him.

Jacques laughed. "That's precisely my point. We offer Faunus the exact same wages given to the rest of our mining staff. Their argument completely invalid right out of the gate."

"Well, I think the bigger issue here… is our society as a whole." A Businessman states.

Jacques scoffs. "Why, you mean Atlas?"

As they converse, Weiss and Shadow looks over to the largest painting on the end of the ballroom, depicting Beacon Academy with its Cross Continental Transmit tower still standing.

"Atlas, Mantle... You can't deny the economic disparity between the two." The Businessman continued.

"I mean, what exactly are you suggesting?" A Businesswoman inquired.

Weiss starts to step away, only to have her forearm grabbed by her father, who doesn't even turn around causing her to halt, startled.

Jacques pulled Weiss back and turning to face her. "Where are you going?"

"I'm… just a little thirsty." She lied with a meekly expression

"Sweetheart, we have people for that." Jacques said letting her go looking for a waiter.

Weiss stops him by grabbing his forearm, prompting a sideways glance from Whitley. "What? No, I can get it. I'll be right back, I promise. I have Shadow to accompany me."

The two lock gazes as the conversation next to them continues. Jacques decides to let Weiss go and turns back to his companions.

"I'm sorry, I tuned out for a second, but sounds like I'm the good guy again?" He asked.

Jacques and the businesswoman share a laugh. Weiss moves across the room to look at the painting of Beacon Academy with Shadow following her. She has barely reached it when Henry Marigold speaks to her.

"It's beautiful. You two match." Henry said with a flirtatious grin.

Weiss stands with her arms crossed, maintaining a cold expression throughout most of the conversation. "Yes, it's a lovely painting."

"So, that was my attempt at breaking the ice. How am I doing so far?" He asked but then he notices Shadow. "Who's the dude? Is he your date?"

Weiss blushed as she grits her teeth. "He's my bodyguard you twit!"

Henry analyzes the Black and Red Faunus as he walks around him. "Well, he's an intimidating one too, does he speak?"

"I do…" Shadow said making Henry shiver as he backs away from him. "I'm watching you Henry, so don't get any cute ideas with Weiss you hear?"

Henry gulps as nods. "S-Sure whatever man. I saw your performance. Obviously. You were wonderful. And I promise I'm not just saying that 'cause you're pretty."

Weiss turns her attention back to the painting, and there is brief silence between the two.

"Honesty, remember? So, you thinking about buying it?" He asked beginning to rattle the railing as he speaks.

Weiss shakes her head. "No. I don't think so."

Henry chuckles. "Yeah, kinda pricey for a painting."

"It's to raise money." The Heiress said in annoyance.

"Oh really? For what?"

"For what?" She threw him a disgusted look.

"Heheh, I'll admit, I only come to these things for the food and drinks." Henry reaches out and takes a champagne flute as a waiter walks by. "And the extraordinary company. Of course."

As he sips his drink, Weiss shifts her stance to face him.

"So what, is it another Mantle fundraiser or something?" The Cocky Youth inquired getting on her last nerve.

"Get. Out." Weiss hissed.

Henry slightly laughed. "What?"

"You two options punk. Leave Weiss alone or become food for the Grimm, your pick." Shadow said with a sinister grin making Henry sweat in fear.

"But I haven't done any-"

Shadow had his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Last chance Marigold…"

He stares at her in disbelief before obeying. "Pfft, whatever."

The camera pans up the Beacon Academy painting, then shows the sign in front of the display, which reads:

"SHOW THE WORLD WE CARE

All proceeds go to the Kingdom of Vale".

Weiss' eyes are open again as if she had just been observing the painting, and she once again closes her eyes. The chatter of the party guests grows louder, but one voice stands out among the rest.

"But really, does it come as any surprise, what happened to Vale?" The Trophy Wife asked looking at the picture with the Heiress.

Weiss opens her eyes and turns slightly, peering over her shoulder at the woman.

"It was a long time coming, if you ask me." The Trophy Wife states.

"Honey…" The Husband said shaking his head.

The Trophy Wife's Husband places his hand on her shoulder, trying to shush her, but she shakes it off, leaving him to glance around the room with a forced, nervous grin.

"What?" She laughed. "You said the same thing last night. If they're so arrogant to think they can get by without proper kingdom defense, then I say good riddance."

While she talks, her Husband drops the act and heaves a silent sigh. The Trophy Wife's rant is cut off by a voice shouting angrily across the room at her.

"Shut up!" Weiss hissed at her.

The room falls silent, and all of the party goers turn to look at her.

Jacques narrowed his eyes. "Weiss?"

Her voice still raised, Weiss angrily gestures to the guests while she speaks.

"You don't have a clue! None of you do!" She snapped at the Trophy Woman.

The Trophy Wife had a disgusted look on her face. "Excuse me?!"

"You're all just standing around talking about nothing! Worrying about your hair, your money, your stupid problems that don't mean anything!" The Heiress barks at everyone.

Her father quickly approaches her while Whitley looks on with a faint smile on his face.

"Weiss, that's enough." Jacques scolded his daughter grabbing her wrist, and she immediately begins struggling to pull away.

"Let go of me!" Weiss cries grabbing her father's arm.

Jacques narrows his eyes. "You're embarrassing the family!"

"I said let go!"

Weiss breaks free her father's grasp with a harsh tug, but in the process, she loses her balance and collapses to the floor. Suddenly, a glyph manifests next to Weiss, and a Boarbatusk is summoned. She looks at it with wide eyes, her jaw dropping. The Boarbatusk Summon charges toward the Trophy Wife.

"Please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, just leave me alone." The Trophy Wife said whimpering in fear.

It leaps toward her and her Husband, jaws wide open, but a black snake consumed before it can reach her as Ironwood came into the scene.

"Arrest her! What are you waiting for? She's insane, she should be locked up!" The Trophy Wife screeched but she was silenced by having Arondight in front of her face.

"You have the right to remain silent ma'am." Shadow said with his right eye glowing slightly.

"She's the only one making sense around here. Thanks for the party, Jacques." Ironwood states politely. The general casually makes his exit. Still on the floor, Weiss looks up to see her father turn to glare at her with in turn made her glare back right at him.

 **-Music: A Villain Appears! (Boku no Hero Academia)-**

As the six members of Team SPRNJR continue out of Oniyuri, Ren and Sonic suddenly senses something. The two warriors puts out their hands to stop the other three, eyes closing as they focuses. Somewhere close by Tyrian Callows can be seen running. Ren and Sonic drew their weapons. Ruby, Nora, Pyrrha, and Jaune immediately follow suit. Tyrian soon leaps high over the wall to engage them in combat. He immediately takes out his weapons in a seamless motion and, laughing eagerly, moves to attack Ruby. Ren intervenes, StormFlower clashing with Tyrian's claw blades. Ren attempts to both kick and shoot Tyrian, but he dodges. The two have a couple more attack and parries until Tyrian kicks Ren several feet away. Tyrian turns to go after Ruby again, who rushed forward with Crescent Rose to meet him. Tyrian uses his blades to block the scythe and kicks Ruby backward. She easily remains upright and they clash again. Tyrian manages to land a strike on Ruby's right arm, causing her to cry out at the pain and him to laugh. Sonic kicks Tyrian away from her and sends a Sonikku-fū (Sonic Wind) his way but he dodges the attack. Pyrrha sent Akoúo̱ at Tyrian who jumps out of the way as Jaune steps in at that moment and Tyrian climbs onto his shield and grins at him. Nora rushes in with Magnhild, but Tyrian just leaps from Jaune's shield to her hammer and up through the top story of a narrow, rectangular building. Holding himself up with his feet on wooden frames to either side of him, Tyrian looks down at Team SPRNJR.

"We're not looking for a fight!" Sonic points Caliburn at Tyrian.

"Who are you?" Ren asked.

Tyrian leans forward, drops from the tower, does a front flip, and lands on his feet in front of them. "Who I am matters not to you. Or you. Or— Well... you do interest me." He looks at Jaune at the last

Jaune gasps nervously. "Huh?!"

"No, I only matter to you both." He points to Ruby and Sonic, and the rest of SPRNJR turn to look at them. The couple gulp nervously tilts her head in confusion.

"Us?" Ruby and Sonic said in unison.

Tyrian breaks down into laughter. "You, you haven't the slightest clue, do you? Oh, how exciting this must be!"

Ruby sweats a bit. "What do you want?"

Tyrian begins acting dramatically in response to her tone of voice. "Oh, the rose has thorns! My little flower, I'm here to whisk you away with me!"

"Well, what if she doesn't want to go with you?" Nora asked readying her Magnhild.

He stares for a moment with his lips scrunched up before answering. "Well, I'll take her."

Jaune and Pyrrha walks over and stands between him and Ruby, their shields held in front of them.

"We're not going to let you do that!" Jaune and Pyrrha said in unison.

 **-Music Stops-**

 **-Music: Finally Appeared! (Magi: Up to the Volume of Balbad)-**

Sonic balled his fist as the wind starts picking up as he glares at Tyrian with green silted eyes as a blue glow formed on his outline. "You will not to **uch Ruby you psychopath!"**

Tyrian closes his eyes and inhales through his teeth. His eyes slowly open, and he happily growls a single word with a dark grin. "Good… I can feel that anger rising… give into that hate…" Delighted that they're willing to fight, Tyrian moves fast to attack Jaune and Pyrrha from behind.

"Jaune! Heads up!" Ren gets StormFlower ready.

Ren deliberately shoots Jaune's shield so that the ricochet hits Tyrian. Tyrian covers his eyes with his arm and then cartwheels onto Jaune's shield, using his claw blades to spin in the air against it Pyrrha knocks him down. Ruby steps in to face Tyrian on his descent from Pyrrha's airborne attack, but he just kicks her to the side. She regains her ground by using Crescent Rose to steady herself. Sonic takes a swing with his sword at Tyrian, but he simply dodges and kicks him but the Azure Faunus blocks it and gave Tyrian a right hook to his face but he simply slashes at Sonic's face, Sonic jumps out of range. His next move is to run toward Nora. From across the way, Ruby grins and shoots Nora with lightning Dust. It passes just over Tyrian's left shoulder, and he turns as he senses it. Nora gets knocked down when the bolt makes contact, dropping Magnhild in the process. Mistaking the move for an error on Ruby's part, Tyrian gives Nora a baffled stare and laughs while Ren, Pyrrha, Sonic, Jaune and Ruby simply watch and wait.

"Well, if that isn't ironic."

He senses something is up and loses his mirth. With a determined, satisfied grin, a now upright and supercharged Nora rushes Tyrian from behind, moving over his right shoulder and coming before him just in time to hit him with Magnhild. The blast from the contact has the other three covering their eyes from the backwash of dust and air, Jaune actually taking cover behind his shield. The air clears to reveal a perfectly fine Tyrian in a crouch, using his now unveiled scorpion tail to block Magnhild. He giggles and curls his fingers at Nora.

"Surprise."

He kicks Nora twice in the face before leaping backward and upward onto a roof, leaving his coat behind.

"He's… a Faunus." Pyrrha said in distaste.

"What is this about? The White Fang? Roman Torchwick?" Ruby asked gripping her Crescent Rose.

Tyrian snickers. "Plastic soldiers and pawns. My heart and body belong only to our goddess."

"Cinder…" Sonic growled trying to contain his rage.

"Hmph, only in her wildest dreams." The Scorpion Faunus sneered.

Tyrian leaps back into the fray. He uses his tail to knock Crescent Rose down. Though surprised, Ruby doesn't lose her grip on it. The two both attack each other and miss until Tyrian kicks Ruby backward again. Tyrian uses his tail to go after Ren before finally kicking him and Pyrrha away and attacking Jaune next. A crow flies determinedly toward the fray while Tyrian kicks Jaune back and then Nora, and then Ren returns for more only to leap away again. Without missing a beat, Tyrian lets Ren be and goes after Ruby again. In quick succession, he delivers a right hook to her face and a left blow to her torso, causing red shimmers on her Aura on her head and chest respectively. He turns and swings his tail to knock her back into the air. She flies back several feet and he rushes forward to meet her before she lands. While Ruby's still midair, he kicks her right in the abdomen, causing a large red shimmer over her abdomen and hips. The incoming crow turns into Qrow Branwen who keeps running forward after landing. Tyrian approaches Ruby on the ground and raises his stinger, his eyes turning dark purple. Nora, who is comforting a fallen Ren, and Jaune both look on in horror. Laughing, Tyrian is about to strike with his scorpion tail when Qrow bursts through a building and inserts himself between them, holding his weapon behind his back. There's a metallic noise as Tyrian's stinger hits against Qrow's weapon and clips into the blade. He lets out a nervous giggle of surprise while Ruby and Qrow make eye contact and smile at each other.

"Hey." Qrow said.

"About time Uncle Alcohol Breath!" Sonic said crouching on the ground with his hand touching the ground. A blue aura appeared. "Let's take this guy down!"

"Ready when you are!" Qrow said grinning at Sonic.

 **-Music Ends-**

The camera cuts to black.

 **To Be Continued...**


	7. Chapter 7 Punished!

_**Whaddup everyone! It's your boy back with a new chapter of SSKT 4! You ready for this?! Let's get into it! Enjoy! Shouts to Emily the MVP! She's a true friend!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Sonic goes to SEGA and RWBY goes to Rooster Teeth Productions and Monty Oum!**_

 **-Music: The Divine Wings (Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity)-**

Oscar Pine sits on his bed in his room, reading a book by the light of a lantern. "..."

"Oscar, supper's almost ready!" Oscar's Aunt called from another room.

Oscar perked his head as he looks at the door. "What're we having?"

"Doesn't matter! You're eating it!" She answered.

"I never agreed to these terms!" Oscar jokingly replied with a chuckle.

"It's part of the "living under my roof" contract! Read the fine print, then come wash up!" Oscar's Aunt retorted back.

Oscar closes his book and stands up. He is walking toward the door when a voice resounds, causing him to pause.

 _"We have to leave."_ Ozpin's disembodied voice rang in his head.

Oscar continues forward.

 _"Oscar. Oscar!"_

Oscar is about to grasp the door handle, but holds back. "I've decided you're not real, so you might as well give up."

 _"I understand how you're feeling. I went through the same panic and confusion."_ Ozpin said understand the reluctance of the young boy.

Oscar turns around and looks at an open book on the floor. He bends down and shuts it, talking aloud as he puts it and the one next to it away on a shelf. "It's not real. It's not real. It's not real…" Oscar stands up and his reflection is visible in the window.

 _"I can assure you, you are perfectly sane." _ Ozpin reassured.

Oscar shook his head. "I'm talking to a voice in my head."

 _"I didn't say you were normal. I said you were sane."_

Oscar starts to leave his room again.

 _"There's quite a significant difference between-"  
_  
Oscar balls his fist tightly. "Shut up! You think this is funny? It's not!"

 _"We are in complete agreement on that matter, I promise you. Believe me, I wish this weren't the case. But as I've told you, our Aura, our souls are combined."_ Ozpin states.

Oscar looks up at the ceiling without really focusing on anything but clearly showing his disgust. "I'm done listening to you."

 _"Have you ever been to Haven?"_ Ozpin inquired.

"I told you I'm not going, and I told you I'm done listening."

 _"Do you think you could describe the headmaster's office?"_

"No. Why would I know that? I've never seen-"

 _"Try. Right now."_

"It's probably… It's…" His eyes widen and his face slackens. The visual pans around his head in a circle as he continues to speak. "It's autumn-colored… with a large mahogany desk. There's a small table with chairs in a corner for guests, with a tea set that… I… I gave him."

The pan stops when Oscar refers to himself in the first person. He puts his hand to his head, disconcerted.

"Why did I say that? Why did I know that? Why did I say that?" He asked blinking a few times.

Oscar becomes increasingly bothered and he starts backing up, dropping his hand.

 _"Because I helped build that school, and the tea set was a gift to the man running it now."_ Ozpin answers.

Oscar sits on his bed and holds his head, groaning.

 _"If you don't believe me, you can look it up. If I recall, your aunt has several books on Mistral downstairs. I'm certain you could find a picture in one of them."_ Ozpin said.

Oscar straightens up and lowers his hands. "That… that's right, I must've seen it in a picture." He sighed.

 _"Oscar…"_

Oscar stands upright, tightening his fists at his sides and shouts. "Stop talking to me!"

 _"I have a grave responsibility to uphold. We both do."_ Ozpin states.

Oscar falls to his knees. "I never agreed to anything…"

 _"No, you didn't. And neither did I, at first. But you do have an opportunity."  
_  
"For what?" Oscar asked still sulking about this entire situation.

 _"Greatness, hopefully. Greatness in knowing that, when the world needed help, you were the one to reach out your hand. It won't come without hardship, without sacrifice, but I know you don't want to live the rest of your life working as a farmhand in Mistral." _ Ozpin said.

Oscar had his hands on his head again with eyes widened. "So you just decided to read my thoughts?"

 _"I…well. They're our thoughts, now."  
_  
Oscar in annoyance groans. "Get out of my head!"

"Oscar! Supper time! I better see clean hands!" Oscar's Aunt called again.

Oscar looks toward the door, but remains silently on the floor. "...what should I do…?"

 **-Music Ends-**

Weiss Schnee sits on her bed in her room with her head bowed and her hands folded in her lap. Jacques Schnee paces in front of her with Shadow Donovan stands at the door watching the two, but he's formulating a plan to bail out Weiss.

"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable." Jacques suddenly stops, then turns and points at her. "Do you have any idea what your stunt cost us?"

"I-"

"And don't think I'm just talking about Lien here! Our reputation! Our… our…" Jacques couldn't find more words to express his frustration.

Jacques sighs angrily and holds his head, unable to come up with the words to finish expressing the gravity of her mistake. Weiss waits for a moment before speaking.

"I want to leave." Weiss muttered.

"I beg your pardon?" Weiss' father asked wanting to hear what she asked.

"I said I want to leave. I don't want to stay here anymore. I don't want to stay in Atlas anymore!" Weiss said with a frown.

Jacques scoffs. "Young lady, I don't give a damn about what you want! This isn't about you. This is about the Schnee family name and your apparent insistence on dragging it through the mud!"

Weiss points at her father. "I have done nothing but fight to uphold the honor of my family name, a name that you married into!"

Jacques slaps Weiss hard on her left cheek, sending her head to the side as she gasps in reaction. She puts her hand on her cheek and turns to face her father, looking at him a little incredulously as she lowers her hand. He looks right back at her, unrepentant. When he begins speaking again, his voice suddenly sounds calm yet intimidating. "This behavior of yours is incredibly disappointing. You couldn't possibly understand the lengths I've gone to in order to keep this family where it is. You think running off like your sister is going to make the Schnee name stronger? You're wrong. Siding with her only divides us."

"I'm not siding with anyone. I'm doing what I feel is right, and that does not include wasting my time up here…" Weiss said with her voice breaking as tears started to form.

Jacques walks away, rolling his eyes as his daughter finishes her rant.

"...with these clueless people in Atlas. The Schnee family legacy isn't yours to leave. It's mine, and I'll do it as a Huntress." She finishes.

Jacques stops and slowly turns to face her again. As he speaks, he moves to stand in front of his daughter, peering down upon her. "No… you won't. You're not leaving Atlas. You're not to leave the manor grounds unless I specifically allow it. You are going to remain here, out of sight and out of trouble, until you and I come to an agreement on your future."

Weiss' eyes widened. "What?!"

"Your presupposition that you can simply have whatever it is you want is a clear sign of our failure as parents. But from now on, I'll be giving you the full attention you require, starting by keeping you where I can see you." He states walking to the door.

 **-Music: Fade To Black (Bleach)-**

With that, Jacques turns once more and walks away, but Jacques froze in place seeing red eyes in the shadows of the room, Weiss notices as she smiled slightly knowing who it is in the darkness. Jacques narrowed his eyes having enough of this till something he heard from his ears. A hissing noise.

"Huh? What is that noise? Show yourself before-"

Suddenly large snake rushed from the shadows slithering around his body slowly squeezing him.

"I think you said enough Mr. Schnee… Weiss is your daughter but she has control on her own destiny and future. If she wants to be a Huntress, then she WILL become a Huntress. Your purpose is to train and nurture her, and also guide her. But once a flower blossoms heading into maturity, the parents' recognize that their child is ready to handle larger responsibilities. So Mr. Schnee, your punishment is foolish and heartless… I suggest you reconsider your decision or else…" Shadow threatened trying to retain his anger as he glared at Jacques deep in his icy blue eyes.

"How dare you?! You utter filth and disrespectful ingrate! You dare threaten me?! I will have you jailed for life for this! I decide my daughter's future! She's not going nowhere!" Jacques barked spitting at his face struggling.

The spit instantly turned into vapor as Shadow's tightened making the snake squeeze Jacques harder as the Dark Knight's expression turned from hatred to a sadist smile.

" **Fine then! YOU'VE DECIDED YOUR-"**

Shadow felt a hand over his as his red slit eyes shifts into the right as he sees Weiss with her head facing the floor. **"Weiss?"**

"Don't do it! You're not a monster Shadow! You're better than this… don't kill him…" She looked at him with teary eyes.

Shadow sighs as his aura disappeared and he touched Jacques' chest. "Alright… Mr. Schnee, better think long and hard about your boundaries as a parent… if you try anything funny; I'll take Weiss with me." He teleports him before Jacques can say anything.

 **-Music Ends-**

"Y-You know you're i-in trouble once my father calls police right?" Weiss asked wiping her tears in concern.

Shadow looks at her before closing his eyes. "That won't be relevant Weiss. We won't be here for long unless you want to be confined here. Make your choice now, fulfill your desire to be a Huntress and change the Schnee name or stay here forever lose your freedom. The choice is yours."

The Ice Queen looks down at the floor but a second or two later Weiss lifts her head and tightens her fist, a determined look in her eyes. She walks to the window and pulls the curtains shut. She moves her bed over several feet, pushes a desk and kicks aside a low glass bench at the foot of her bed. A wide shot shows the furniture askew. A cushioned stool is on its side on the floor, and a long white box marked with the Schnee snowflake symbol rests on her vanity. She approaches the box and opens it to reveal Myrtenaster and Dust vials inside. She lifts her weapon and poses with the blade held vertically in front of her face. "You already know my answer Shadow. Let the training begin!"

" _Well done Weiss. Well done."_ Shadow thought with a smile as he grabbed Arondight.

 **-Music: Fight For Your Freedom! (Fairy Tail)-**

Tyrian Callows pulls his tail back. Qrow turns around, swinging his weapon and holding at the ready by his side. "As I live and breathe, Qrow Branwen. A true Huntsman has entered the fray!"

Ruby gets up and sets Crescent Rose on its end. Qrow glances back at her.

Ruby shakes her head. "I don't know, this guy's weird."

Qrow faces Tyrian again. "Look, pal, I'm not sure who you are, but you need to leave my niece and her boyfriend alone."

Tyrian chortles. "Why, friend, my name is Tyrian. And I'm afraid that is not possible. My assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this young girl. So, that is what I must do. One does not upset the Queen."

"Queen?" Ruby repeated.

Qrow narrowed his eyes. "Salem."

"Who?"

"Hmm, I think we've had enough talk now, don't you?" The Scorpion Faunus asked assuming a crouching position.

"Took the words right out of—"

Tyrian rushes Qrow before he can finish voicing the thought and the two fight. A roof gets damaged and Tyrian uses the bullet capability in the gloves of his wrist blades. Ren and Nora join in, but Tyrian easily gets them away. He moves to chase them, but Sonic intervenes.

"Don't come closer!" Sonic barked through gritted teeth.

The two Faunus continue to fight.

Ruby huffed. "Fine!"

She takes Crescent Rose to the top of a building and waits for an opening to shoot Tyrian. However, both he and Sonic move too fast for her to get a clear shot. Tyrian manages to uses his tail to disarm Qrow. This slows things down enough for Ruby to repeatedly shoot at him from the roof, but Tyrian just deflects each with his tail. Qrow switches to punching Tyrian in face. With a final kick, he is successful enough to beat Tyrian down and casually move to retrieve his weapon from where it embedded in a wall. Tyrian waits until Qrow has his back turned before striking, but Qrow merely leaps on top of his own weapon and activates its scythe mode. The two continue to battle, then Sonic takes their fight to a roof top. They appear evenly matched until Tyrian descends into the building and uses his tail to drag Sonic down, too. This is enough to make Ruby decide to no longer stay back. Just as she reaches the building, Sonic comes out through a wall, his body and his weapon bouncing. The weapon lands with its blade in the ground, and Sonic perches atop it. Red flickers of damaged Aura move over his body twice. Tyrian comes out of the floating dust and grime inside the building, purple flickers moving across his body. As the two begin to strike again, Ruby jumps in between and deflects Tyrian's blades with Crescent Rose.

"Ruby!" Pyrrha cries.

Jaune holds her back from moving forward.

"Do you wish to be taken?" Tyrian inquired with grin.

Ruby growls. "No! But I won't stand by and watch someone get hurt!"

Both Sonic, Qrow, and Ruby move in to attack Tyrian and the four clash. His eyes purple again, Tyrian almost gets her with his stinger, but Qrow blocks it.

"Ruby! What did I say?! Get back!" Qrow said grunting to hold him back.

"This is my fight, too!"

She attacks Tyrian while he's still locked blade-to-blade with Qrow, but his legs arch away from the swing of Crescent Rose.

"No, it's not that. It's—"

Ruby attacks again, and Tyrian moves to her. He flips and sends her back with a two-footed kick. She slides closer to the building and gains her ground, but the wooden beams near the roof have been shaken up too much and a heavy one breaks and descends upon her. Qrow slices it in half so it falls in pieces to either side of Ruby without touching her. She smiles at him in gratitude and affection, and he raises his head from his stance to look at her, only to gasp in pain as he is immediately cut in the abdomen by Tyrian's stinger. Tyrian chuckles while everyone but Ruby takes a beat from the unexpectedness of it. She, however, immediately cuts off the stinger from the rest of Tyrian's tail. It bounces, spurting purple liquid, to the ground. Tyrian reels back and cries out from the pain. Standing, he whirls to face Ruby, infuriated.

"You bitch!" He shouts.

He takes a step or two forward but is off balance. Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, and Jaune all move to block his path to Ruby and Qrow.

Tyrian takes a few awkward steps, not engaging. "She'll forgive you." He runs away but Sonic had other plans.

"Oh no you don't! Kakushi-fū fōmu: Shirokkohanmā ken (Hidden Wind Form: Sirocco Hammer Fist)!" Sonic dashes with his fist being covered in red wind which gave a blazing sensation. "YOU BETTER LEAVE US ALONE!"

Sonic's fist hits Tyrian's back sending him flying in a fast speed till he turns to Qrow, who had still been upright with his weapon at the ready, collapses to one knee and clutches at the wound, panting heavily.

Ruby rushes to his side. "Uncle Qrow! Are you okay?"

Qrow had a shaky smile. "I'll be fine. He just grazed me." He pulls his shaking hand away to show the blood on it. The other five arrive at his side.

"Who was that guy?" Nora asked.

"How did you get here?" Ren asked.

"Why are people after Ruby and Sonic?" Jaune asked.

"And who are you?" Pyrrha asked.

Ruby looks at her uncle. "Uncle Qrow? What's going on?"

Qrow was breathing heavily and clutching his abdomen again. "What's your favorite fairy tale?"

The scene cuts to black, while Qrow groans.

 **-Music Ends-**

 **To Be Continued...**


	8. Chapter 8 A Much Needed Talk!

_**What up everyone! It's your boy Hisui here! Back with another chapter and it's late too. It's 10:32 since I started this chapter and I usually don't start writing. But I had homework to finish. I don't know how I will get this done before 1 but if I don't this will be finished tomorrow. Well let's started! Enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Don't own anything related to Sonic and RWBY!**_

 **-Music: Disquieting Shadow (Sonic Heroes)-**

Around a campfire, Sonic Maruti, Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos, Qrow Branwen, Jaune Arc, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie sit on four logs positioned in a square. Qrow has just finished telling the story of the Maidens. There is silence and Qrow takes a swig from his flask. He has a bandage wrapped around his abdomen over his clothing. And Sonic had his scroll recording sending it to Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles.

"Really? No questions?" Qrow inquired looking at everyone.

Jaune narrowed his eyes. "Of course we have questions. This is just… a lot to take in."

Qrow sighed. "Sure, of course."

"So these… Maidens… They're powerful fighters that don't need Dust to use magic." Pyrrha asked with distrusting eyes.

Qrow nods. "Yeah."

"And there are four of them?" Nora asked.

"Yup. Always."

Ren looks at the fire. "Which means that, whenever one of them dies, the power transfers to someone - a female - that they cared about?"

"Whoever was in their thoughts last. Important distinction. Best option is someone we can trust. Regardless, their souls become combined, in a way." Qrow looks at Pyrrha. "Somehow you still have a tiny bit of the Fall Maiden's power even though Cinder has most of it."

"And that's what you were trying to do to Pyrrha... the night the tower fell. You were trying to turn her into one of them." Jaune said narrowing his eyes in anger.

Qrow looks at the fire. "The previous Fall Maiden, Amber, had been attacked. She was young, inexperienced. And her assailant, who we now know is Cinder, somehow managed to steal some of her power, but not all of it. We were afraid that if we didn't do something, the rest would go to her as well."

"So you forced it on Pyrrha!" Jaune felt Pyrrha's hand on his shoulder shaking her head.

"Jaune. They're not the ones in fault. I listened to the Headmaster and the rest as they explained to me… I made the choice. Now, let it go." She said firmly.

Jaune hangs his head for a brief moment before getting up and walking several feet away from group as Qrow watches him go.

"That guy, Tyrian - why was he after me?" Ruby asked feeling perturbed.

"And me." Sonic added.

Qrow sighed not feeling like explaining this. "Well, you definitely painted a target on your back with what you did at Beacon. I told you having silver eyes is a rare trait. And the fact that you were able to use them seems to have upset some very powerful people. Not many people know about the silver eyes. Those that do aren't very happy that one has surfaced. That's why I've been keeping an eye on you in order to make sure you were safe. All of you. And you Sonic, I have no clue but I guess from your long time enemy Dr. Eggman needed her help to kill you. Even Cinder is infuriated that you and your pals have powers that can beat her."

"Well, then, why not just travel with us? It seems like that would've been way easier." Ruby said.

Jaune answers her loudly enough to be heard, but with his back still turned to everyone. "He was using you as bait."

"Look, I wouldn't put it like that - it's complicated." The Drunk Huntsman said to him.

Jaune turns back to face him. "What is all of this? Ruby and Sonic being hunted, the schools are being attacked, all for what?! What is the point of all of this?! Will you just tell us what's going on?!"

Qrow stares at him, then slouches over with a sigh. "Would you sit down? You're stressin' me out, 'kid."

Jaune sits back down on his log and crosses his arms as Qrow starts to take another swig, but changes his mind before the flask reaches his lips.

"Not many people are super religious these days." Qrow caps and sets the flask down. "This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real."

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: The Divine Wings (Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity)-**

Pan over to a nearby large rock, where Qrow's story is illustrated with a display of light and shadows from the campfire.

"They were two brothers. The older sibling, the god of light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the god of darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go. The older one would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. And at night, his brother would wake to see all the things that the elder had made and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the god of darkness brought drought, fire, famine, all he could do to rid Remnant of life. Life always returned. So one night, the younger brother went and made something - something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything." Qrow stated.

"The creatures of Grimm." Sonic muttered for Qrow to hear.

"You guessed it Big Blue. The older brother finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed that they make one final creation… together, something that they could both be proud of, their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow - the path of light or the path of darkness. And that is how Humanity came to be." Qrow finished his explanation.

"But… what does that have to do with us?" Ren inquired feeling a bit puzzled.

Qrow looks at the fire. "Well, that's the kicker. See, the four gifts to mankind - knowledge, creation, destruction and choice - aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exists in a physical form, left behind by the gods before they abandoned Remnant, and each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world. That's exactly what the enemy wants. The Huntsman Academies were created to train generations of Humanity's protectors, but they also serve another purpose - guarding the relics. When Ozpin's predecessor founded the schools, he built them around the relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would constantly be surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was that hiding them would keep mankind from using them against itself… and, of course, keeping them out of her reach."

Cut back to the group sitting around the campfire.

"So yeah, there's that." Qrow continued.

Ruby looks at her Uncle. "Her. You mean Salem?"

Qrow nods. "That's right. Not much is known about her. Quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the relics, and if she gets them, it's not going to end well…"

 **-Music Ends-**

Blake Belladonna stands on a second story deck outside her father's office. The broken moon shines over the house. Blake stares at her father's door, beside which hangs an empty birdcage, when Kali Belladonna speaks, startling her.

"You know, you can always go in and say hi." Kali said with a smile as she carries a tray with a tea set on it.

"I don't wanna bother him." Blake said feeling unwanted by seeing her father.

Kali's smile grew a bit. "A father's never too busy for his daughter."

Blake had a small smile on her face. "Not all of my friends would agree with you on that."

Kali kisses her daughter on the cheek and hands her the tray. Blake accepts it, but is a bit taken aback by being handed it. "Here."

"What? Where are you going?" She asked her mother.

"You've never been very talkative, but that boy you brought home loves to run his mouth. I wanna hear more about the adventures of Team RWBY and Team SSKT." Kali said being excited about the adventures of Team SSKT and RWBY as she walks away, her footsteps audible.

"Kali? Is that you, dear?" Ghira called from his office.

 **-Music: Friendly Feelings (Sword Art Online)-**

Blake gives a nervous start of surprise when she hears his voice. The tray shakes in her hands, and she lets out a quiet whine. Ghira straightens some paperwork on his desk. The porch door slides open and Blake steps inside.

"Uh, hey dad."

Ghira smiles widely. "Blake! Well, this is a pleasant surprise."

This was not what Blake had expected at all. "I…"

"Please, come sit." Ghira said enthusiastically as he stood up.

Father and daughter both move to the oversized coffee table and lounge furniture, and Blake sets the tea set at the end where her father sits.

"Don't worry, I've got it. Sit down, sit down." He said softly.

Blake felt that she didn't do enough for her father. "I don't wanna keep you if you're-"

"Nonsense, I've been cooped up in here all day." Ghira poured tea in both teacups. He puts a cube of sugar in the cup nearest Blake. "You still take sugar, right?"

Blake's eyes widen a bit in surprise. "Oh, actually, uh-"

Ghira pulls back nervously. "Oh! Sorry!"

Blake holds her hands out feverishly. "No, no no no, it's fine."

Ghira took a breath in relief. "Oh, here, take this one."

Blake takes her cup. "No, really. It's, it's no big deal."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Ghira chuckles. "Old habits, I suppose."

Blake takes a sip of her tea and winces with a tiny exclamation of pain.

"Might wanna let it cool." He said with a small smile on his face.

"Right…" She said with a little pained voice as Blake sets the cup down on the table.

"So… is it… warm... in Vale?" Ghira inquired.

"Huh?"

"It just… seems like your outfit doesn't cover very much." Blake's Father pointed out by observing his daughter's outfit.

Blake looks down at herself and crosses her arms as a blush covers appeared on her cheeks. "It covers plenty."

"I mean, a little more armor might help. Don't you think?" Ghira asked.

Blake shakes her head slightly. "I'm fine. I don't need armor. I can look after myself."

"I…" He sighed. "I know you can. I'm sorry." He sets down his own cup.

Blake's expression saddens, and she looks away, bowing her head. "...Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why would you say that?"

Ghira moves to be beside his daughter, going down to one knee and putting a hand on her back. "Sweetheart, what's wrong? What did I say?"

Blake refuses to cry but the tears were coming. "How can you still love me after what I did?"

"Blake…" He gets up and sits beside her on the couch, putting his arm around her. "Your mother and I will always love you."

"You were right. I shouted at you and yelled at you." She said emotionally looking up at her father with tears falling. "But you were right. I called you cowards!"

Remorsefully, she lowers her head closer to her father. He holds her.

"It's okay."

Blake pulled back. "I should have left the White Fang with you and Mom. I should've listened to you, and I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She looked away with shame.

Ghira turned her by the chin to look at him and then wiping a tear from her eye with his thumb. "Blake, it's fine. We never held anything against you, and I never feared you would fail. The only thing I ever feared was that you would fall down the wrong path, and I am so proud to see you haven't."

"But I did! I was-" She lowers her face again.

"And you pulled yourself out. You came back. There aren't many who possess that kind of strength and even fewer that have the courage to face their demons again. Vale, Mountain Glenn, Beacon - you confronted the White Fang time after time." Ghira said firmly.

"I didn't do it alone."

"No, you didn't. Which is why I wanted to ask you… why did you leave Vale? Why did you leave your friends behind?" Her father asked.

"I…" She sniffled.

 **-Music Ends-**

Behind them, the porch door falls inward, Sun on top of it and yelping. Blake turns around.

"Sun?!" Blake cried affronted as she stood

Ghira is also standing while Sun gets himself upright and tries to recover from the situation.

Sun sweat drops. "D'yuh! Whoa! This isn't the bathroom! Uh, I'll just be going! Sorry to interrupt this tender family moment!" He let's out an awkward giggle.

Blake and Ghira both glare at Sun, Blake's right ear twitching. Ghira takes a breath and closes his eyes for a second.

"I really don't like you." Ghira said with a hint of anger in his tone.

"You really messed up big time." Tails said walking in with a towel around his neck. He also elbowed Sun making him kneel grip his side. "Good job slugger."

Team SPRNJR still sits talking to Qrow at the campfire.

Jaune slams his fist into his hand. "Alright. So, let's say we believe all this. There really is this crazy evil being behind these attacks, not just some thugs trying to become powerful. Why doesn't the world know? Why isn't Atlas going after them? Or Mistral?"

"And why aren't we in more of a hurry to get to Haven? Shouldn't we be getting them a message? What if they're next?" Nora asked looking at everyone.

Qrow shook his head. "The headmaster over there saw what happened to Beacon. He's not dumb. He'll be on his guard. Besides, it takes time to mobilize forces like that. Do you really think they planned out that attack on Beacon overnight? And to answer your question, it's the same reason we keep quiet about the Maidens. If the whole world knew about the relics, about Salem, there would be chaos. There'd be another Great War on our hands, and this time, you'd have to fight."

Jaune turns away. "..."

"Look, I had the same questions, too. But ol' Ozpin would always put his foot down. "We can't cause a panic." Heh, can't tell you how many times I've heard that. Salem's smart. She works from the shadows, using others to get what she wants, so that when it comes time to place the blame, we can only point at each other. She's trying to divide us - humanity, and so far she's done a pretty damn good job." He said drinking from his flask.

Leaning back, Qrow looks up at the broken moon and the visual pans to follow his gaze before returning to him, with an above shot at first, changing to a frontal shot when he looks ahead and sighs.

"Alright, so what should we do?" Qrow's niece asked him.

Everyone looks to Qrow.

Qrow chuckles. "I don't really know."

The teens all look at each other, surprised and nervous. They return their gaze to him when he starts speaking again.

"Ozpin has put a lot of trust in the headmasters. Like I said, the schools are an important part of stopping Salem. Atlas is going to be on high alert after the last attack, and Vacuo is - well, Vacuo. It'll be hard to hire thieves and scoundrels to fight against other thieves and scoundrels. Take that, add in the fact that Cinder and her crew claim to be from Haven, and I think it's likely the next target. So, we're on our way to the headmaster. Haven't heard from him in a while, even before the attack. I'm hoping he has the answers." Qrow stands, but grabs at where he was cut. "Alright, I think it's time you kids got some sleep."

"Uncle Qrow?"

"Yeah?"

Ruby stands. "This is a lot to take in, and it all sounds crazy, but… I'm willing to do whatever I can to help because I trust you. But why couldn't you trust me? Why couldn't you just travel with us, instead of this secrecy, and, and-"

Qrow rose his hand signaling her to stop. "Look, this has nothing to do with trust. I- It's a long story, okay?"

Nora arched an eyebrow. "Seriously? Now you're tired of telling us stories?" He stares at the fire in silence before speaking. As he talks he kneels down, picks up a stick and pokes at the fire.

"Did you know that crows are a sign of bad luck? Old superstition, but it's how I got my name. See, some people can absorb electricity and some people can burst into rose petals and some people are just born unlucky. My Semblance isn't like most - it's not exactly something I do. It's always there, whether I like it or not. I bring misfortune." He chuckles bitterly. "I guess you could call me a bad luck charm. Comes in real handy when I'm fighting an enemy, but it makes it a little hard on friends… and family."

Getting up, he still holds his side.

"Well, you are just a real bundle of help, aren't you?" Jaune asked sarcastically.

Ruby, Pyrrha, Nora turn to glare at Jaune.

"Yeah." Qrow said with a chuckle.

He walks away from the campfire, slowly.

"Where are you going?" Sonic asked.

"Taking a walk." Qrow answers.

"There's nothing else you want to tell us?" Pyrrha asked.

A red-eyed raven lands on a tree branch with a quiet caw. Qrow looks at it, and it cocks its head, looking at him.

Qrow shook his head. "Not tonight."

He continues his slow walk away, leaving the six teenagers to themselves for a bit. The log he had prodded earlier rolls out of the campfire. Ruby watches Qrow, concerned but Sonic looks at the crow he just saw.

" _Poor Qrow… I feel sorry for you man…"_ Sonic thought with sympathy.

With a groan of frustration, Blake slaps Sun. They are on the porch outside Ghira's office.

"Ugh! No concept of privacy," She slaps him again. "No respect for personal space!"

His hand goes to his face where she made contact the second time. "I'm sorry, okay?! Ow, I'm sorry!"

"Ugh!" Blake angrily, she turns her back on him and marches a few steps away.

Sun rose his hands in defense. "Look, I promise it was important! I needed to find you to talk to you!"

Blake turns back exasperated. "What, Sun? What could be so important?!"

"I was talking to your mom and she said something weird about the White Fang!" Sun said with urgency.

Blake holds a finger up and striding forward. "I'm stopping you right there."

"But—"

"I told you, I'm not here to fight the White Fang, I'm not here to fight anyone. I'm here to rest and train, to figure things out, and to see my family." She said sternly.

Sun groans gripping his head. "Your mom said White Fang members don't wear masks in Menagerie. But I saw one at the market yesterday! I even have a picture!" He pulls his Scroll out of his back pocket.

"Sun!"

Sun tries to bring up the image. "Look, I'm trying to help!"

Blake pulls his Scroll out of his hands and tosses it out into the trees. "I don't want your help!"

Sun stares at his Scroll and turns to Blake, growling. The sound of the Scroll landing, followed by a feminine, gasping sound is heard from the trees where Blake had just tossed the device. Both Sun and Blake's eyes go wide for a second and they slowly turn, eyes narrowing. The visual becomes a wide shot of the two of them on the porch that is slowly pulling back. It cuts to the dark trees, moving in slowly. A dark humanoid shape with a white mask can just be made out, perched atop a palm tree. The visual cuts to Blake as she gasps and cuts back to the figure, a female Faunus with thin, curved, dark gray horns and black, spotty skin. She is wearing a black, sleeveless stealth suit with a gold zipper and slightly lighter-black straps with gold buckles on it. On her face is a large, white Grimm Mask with elegant, curvy red markings. The woman leaps into the air, giving a better view of her. The legs of her stealth outfit are short, and she wears high-top boots. Her black hair is pulled back in a ponytail that curls up at the end. The Faunus soon disappears. On the porch, Blake steps forward with a determined look in her eye while Sun throws out his arms.

 **-Music: Shooting It Out (Sword Art Online 2)-**

Sun's eyes widen. "A freakin' ninja?!"

"A spy!"

Sun could barely grasp on what is going on. "But why would—"

He cuts off as Tails suddenly jumps onto the railing and then off into the trees following the spy.

"Hey wait Tails! Damn he's fast!" Sun said.

Kali comes out from around the corner and inside the house. "What's happened?"

Sun backs up toward where Tails leapt from. "The White Fang is evil, I totally called it, and I'm bringing your Tails back!"

"No! I will!" Blake said as she followed where Tails leapt from.

Sun leaps down off the second story deck. Kali's mouth drops open for a moment before she brings up her hand, worried.

 **-Music Ends-**

It is morning time at the campsite, and the birds are a-tweeting. All six teenagers are in their sleeping bags, the campfire burned out in the middle. Qrow sits up against the base of a tree, facing the group. Ren sits up with a sigh.

"We should probably get moving." Ren states.

Jaune sits up. "Yeah, yeah."

Both turn at the sound of Qrow coughing, which grows louder and sounds worse with each cough. Nora and Ruby sit up, and Ruby quickly goes to her uncle's side. Purple staining is visible on Qrow's bandage, which he is holding his right hand over. He lifts his left hand to his mouth as he continues to cough. A cuckoo bird joins its call to the rest of the morning birds. Qrow pulls his hand away with a groan, and the whole palm, including up over the wrist and his fingers, is covered in the purple stain.

Ruby's eyes grow wide, and she gasps. Qrow looks at his hand.

"The poison is spreading!" Sonic said in realization. "I knew scorpions were poisonous but not THAT poisonous!"

"Well…" He looks up at Ruby. "That's unfortunate."

With a groan, he lowers his hand and head before going still. The cuckoo finally stops and the screen cuts to black.

 **To Be Continued...**


	9. Chapter 9 Two Steps Forward and Back!

_**What is up everyone?! It's your boy! I didn't get this chapter written yesterday since I was so tired from writing a whole page of my debate essay for my 7th Period class (English) now I am back! Enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Sonic goes to SEGA and RWBY goes to Rooster Teeth Production and Monty Oum.**_

Yang Xiao Long lifts up her head, arms as the ready for a fight. Taiyang Xiao Long takes a swing at her with his left hand, but she easily blocks it with her robotic wrist, pushing his hand away from her. The interplay repeats with his right and her left, only this time Yang uses the momentum to turn and come back at her father with a roundhouse kick. Taiyang bends backward to dodge it, his legs in a lunge. He gives his daughter a solid punch, pushing her back a few feet. Nearby, Zwei watches the two spar, panting happily. Beside him is a low stool with two white towels. His head changes angles, oscillating to the sounds of grunts and contact. Abruptly he holds his head straight and makes a noise of surprise. Taiyang stands alone and moves forward, doing his own roundhouse kick. Yang joins both hands atop each other to block Tai's landing foot. With a loud cry she pushes it up and back. Taiyang regains his footing in a flip while Yang waits for his landing. Using her robotic arm, she knocks him back with a single hit. Holding onto his right bicep, Tai slides through the dirt, his feet flat on the ground until he comes to a stop and Knuckles Geb rose his hand.

"Match! Yang Xiao Long wins!" Knuckles declares.

"Whoa, that thing packs a punch!" Taiyang stood up looking a bit perplexed.

"We've been at this for weeks. I get it, you wanna make sure I can still fight." Yang bumps her own fists. "I think I'm doing just fine."

"You're close." He stands upright, no longer nursing his arm. Walking around his daughter in a circle, he assesses her progress.

Yang arched an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"You're still off balance." Knuckles said with his arms crossed.

Yang looks at her lover with a glare. "What?! No I'm not!"

Taiyang chuckles. _"She doesn't get it."_ Taiyang thought with an amused smile.

"Honestly, I'm kind of surprised." She lifts her robotic arm, looking down at it with a smile. "I thought it would be just this huge weight, but it feels… natural. They did a great job with this thing."

Taiyang comes in from offscreen, delivering a left hook right into her face. Yang's upper body rears back both from impact and surprise. She's ready to block his right hook, however, and uses the turning momentum to deliver an elbow jab. Grinning the entire time, Tai blocks it and then dodges all the kicks she follows through with. Yang switches to punches, but Tai is too on point for her. While she uses her left hand to block an elbow thrust, Tai has grasped her robotic arm and pulled it forward. The position puts Yang in the position of having her balance rely on the weight of one leg.

"I wasn't talking about your actual balance." Taiyang smirked.

He sweeps her forward leg, sending her onto the ground on her back. He leaves her there and walks over to Zwei, who happily gets the top towel for him.

"Although, that could use some work too." Yang's Father stated.

Taiyang takes the towel and give Zwei a rub on the top of his head. Zwei hums happily. Arms spread on the ground, Yang takes a breath before speaking.

"Meaning?" Yang asked.

Taiyang was toweling off his sweat. "I saw your tournament fights. During the Vytal Festival."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. "I was sloppy.""

Taiyang shook his head. "No, no, you were predictable. And… stubborn. And… maybe a little boneheaded."

Yang sits up and spins to stare at her father making Knuckles snicker.

"Do you realize that you used your Semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers?" Taiyang inquired putting his towel down.

Yang spins to have her back to him. "So what? How is me using my Semblance any different than someone else using theirs?"

"Because not everyone else's is basically a temper tantrum. (laughing and crouching by her side) I'm serious! Once you take damage, you can dish it back twice as hard, but that doesn't make you invincible! It's great when you're in a bind, but what happens if you miss? What happens if they're stronger? What then? Now you're just weak and tired! You've always been one to burn brighter than everyone else, whether it was with your smile, or, well, I remember your first haircut." Taiyang shuddered remembering that horrid memory.

He playfully tugs the hair on the back of her head. Smiling, Yang bats him away. He chuckles and gets up, walking away a few paces with Zwei just behind him.

"But you gotta keep your emotions in check. Keep a level head, and think before you act. Your Semblance is a great fallback, but you can't let yourself rely on it. It won't always save you." He lowers his head, sadness creeping into his tone. "Obviously. You definitely have your mom's stubbornness."

Taiyang faces one of the trees, not looking at Yang. Between the two of them, Zwei moves his head back and forth as each speaks.

Yang frowns at her father. "Oh, so now we can talk about her?"

"Well, as I have been informed, you're an adult now, remember?" He asked.

Yang looks down looking dour. "Well, sorry I remind you of her…"

"Don't be. Raven was great in so many ways - her strength, her ambition, her dedication to whatever cause she thought was worth fighting for." He said with a smile looking at the sky. "I'm proud of how much of her I see in you. But, I'm glad I don't see all of her in you."

"Why?"

"Your mother was… a complicated woman. Like everybody, she had her faults, but those faults are what tore our team apart. And, it did a real number on our family. You both act like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it. That strength is all that matters in a fight. But if you just take a second look, then maybe you see… there's a way around as well. Come on - one more before dinner." Taiyang smiling more as he extends his hand.

Yang takes his hand and he helps her up. They circle each other, arms at the ready. Taiyang makes the first move with a left hook, followed immediately by a right cross and a kick. Yang blocks and dodges, continuing to avoid being hit even when Taiyang flips in the air. She cartwheels, avoiding him and he lands across from her. They face off again, Taiying doing a single punch and kick. Veering to avoid it, Yang rolls a few feet away before turning and rushing at him. They meet in the middle, each with their left hand on the other's right elbow, pushing against each other.

"Heh. See? Alright! Now you're using your head instead of your—"

Yang kicks his leg out from underneath him, but catches him as he falls back. They pause in that pose, grasping hands and smiling together with Knuckles smirking with approval.

In the makeshift practice area of her room, Weiss Schnee holds Myrtenaster at the ready. She steps back, twirls, a stream of blue-white light coming from the tip of her sword. On the close of her twirl, Weiss hold it aloft before striking the tip to the floor. A Summoning glyph appears, the Giant Armor's sword slowly but surely beginning to emerge. Weiss' eyes are shut as she concentrates, the power of her Summoning causing a small wind to blow the hair around her face. A voice interrupts.

"Hello, sister." The voice of Whitely Schnee filled the air. He is propped up against the frame of her open door. The sword shatters and disappears, the glyph fading away after.

"Ugh, leave…" Weiss feeling revolted by her brother's presence.

Whitley faked feeling hurt. "How hurtful. And here I am, about to offer you a favor. Father's taking me to town to introduce me to some of his business partners. I'd thought I'd see if you wanted me to pick up anything, since you're … well, stuck here."

"Are you jealous? Is that it?" She inquired with narrowed eyes.

Whitley arched his eyebrow. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Is that why you hate your sister? Are you jealous of her abilities? Of Winter's?" Shadow asked crossing his arms.

Whitley steps away from the door frame. "Hmm… no, not really. Honestly, I find it barbaric. It's beneath people like me. Like Father. What can a single Huntsman possibly do that an army cannot? That's why we have one, even if it is run by a fool."

"I said, leave." Weiss hissed.

Whitley shrugs with a smirk. "Fine, fine. I've got better things to do. Enjoy your… training, however pointless it is."

At the door Whitley turns around, on hand on the jamb. "What is your plan, anyway? What do you hope to accomplish while trapped in your own bedroom?"

A black glyph appears on the open door, promptly swinging it shut on Whitley's briefly surprised face.  
Weiss lowers Myrtenaster with a sigh and resumes her Summoning position. The glyph appears and this time Weiss looks at the portrait of the Giant Armor on the wall. She repeats the same twirl and stab. The glyph glows brightly and spins faster. The books shake in the bookcase on the wall. One particular tome, decorated with floral relief, falls off the shelf and opens on the floor. The window bursts outward as the room is consumed in a bright white light. The light abates to reveal Weiss covering her eyes with her arm. The door to her room is pushed open by an urgent Klein Sieben.

"Miss Schnee! Mister Schnee! Are you alright?!" Klein asked in concern.

The butler's eyes widen and he leans backward, looking amazed. Weiss smiles at him and turns to face the Giant Armor she successfully Summoned.

Weiss nods. "Yes."

The Armor goes down to one knee and bows at Weiss.

Weiss looks out the broken window. "Klein, I need a favor."

Klein nods determinedly.

 **-Music: United Front (Akame Ga Kill)-**

Miles "Tails" Prower Uzumaki and the masked White Fang member leap from tree to tree, Tails in pursuit of the other Faunus. They both pause for a moment, gripping different trees. A noise above the spy makes her gasp and as the Tails in front of her puffed out of existence as the real Tails trying the attack the White Fang Spy.

"Gotcha!"

She leaps on, out of his path. Being frustrated, the Kitsune Faunus pursues while Sun Wukong and Blake Belladonna lands on a branch.

"Hey, wait up!"

"Don't let her out of your sight!"

The spy emerges from the trees and onto a roof. She continues to run across the buildings, Tails right behind her. Sliding under some arching pipes, she finally turns and stops. Using her weapon in whip form, she slices the pipe, releasing steam to block Tails. It doesn't work; Tails moves right under the pipes through the steam. The girl smiles and lowers her weapon. Sun and Blake lands on the roof behind her, causing her to turn around.

Sun points at the spy. "Give it up! I'm not above hitting a girl, you—"

He gets cut off when the spy's whip comes at him in an attack, which he falls back to avoid. Blake takes advantage of the distraction to kick the Scroll out of the spy's hand. The girl is surprised, avoids Blake's next attack, responds with a kick of her own and attempts to retrieve the Scroll. Sun tackles her instead.

"Grab the Scroll! Seems someone thinks it's important!" Sun said to Blake.

"Get off!" The spy cried.

She headbutts Sun, cracking off the part of the mask covering her left eye, and tries to race Blake to the Scroll. Instead, four clones pin her down as Blake pauses.

"Quit staring and grab it!" Tails said running to his clones to deal the final blow.

Blake listens but the clones disappear from atop the girl by her weapon. She rises and aims her weapon at Blake.

"Blake, watch out!" Tails and Sun said in unison.

Blake turns, rising with the Scroll in her hand. She sees the broken Grimm mask crumble from the spy's face.

Blake bore a surprised look on her face. "Ilia."

Sun got to his feet. "Wait, you know her?! But she doesn't even look like a f—aagh!"

He gets cut off when the color-changing Ilia strikes an electric hit near his shoulder with her weapon. Sun cries out and falls.

"Sun!" Tails and Blake cried in unison.

"Give it to me." Iida demanded.

Blake balled her fists. "No."

Ilia changes color again. "You shouldn't have come back."

She uses her weapon to create a rush of dust, but Tails struck her at the face with his face looking feral. Iida was unconscious by the force of Tails' punch as she was airborne falling into the water, sinking. Blake irides shrunk into dots by what happened as she grips Tails' shoulders with narrowed eyes.

"Tails! Why did you do that?! That was my best friend you nearly killed!" She asked being angry with him.

Tails looked up at her with his silted lust red eyes. "Some friend you have Blake! She nearly killed Sun with her neurotoxin that could damage his nervous system! So if you're done yelling at me go to Sun!" Tails broke from her grip as he jumps to the port.

Sun is lying on his back, bleeding from the wound Ilia caused. Blake covers the wound with her hands but she sees bandages that the Kitsune Faunus left, so she grabs it and bandages Sun's wound.

 **-Music Ends-**

The landscape is looking dreary as Ruby Rose can be heard breathing heavily.

"Just hold on, Uncle Qrow!" Ruby said in between breaths.

Ruby and Jaune Arc carry Qrow on a makeshift stretcher. Lie Ren and Sonic Maruti is before them on the path, leading the way while Nora Valkyrie & Pyrrha Nikos brings up the rear. Qrow is groaning in pain and is a touch delirious.

"Tai. She's not… coming…" He grunting in pain. "Tai."

Qrow coughs repeatedly.

"He's getting worse!" Jaune says gritting his teeth with rising desperation.

"How much farther?!" Sonic asked.

"We've gotta be close." Nora answered.

"Without the map, there's no way of knowing. But I feel like we're close to something." Ren said confirming Nora's statement as he holsters StormFlower.

"What is it?" Pyrrha inquired.

Directly ahead is a fork in the road with a signpost. They are coming from the direction of Higanbana. Kuchinashi and Mistral are to the right, where the land is mountainous. To the left is Kuroyuri, its name crossed out. The path that way remains low ground.

Nora smiled widely. "Hey, hey! Mistral! We're on the right path! Oh…"

"Does it say how close?! Because we're low on time and we have the injured with us!" Sonic said looking at Qrow.

Ren shook his head. "No. And it looks like the path takes us up the mountains."

Jaune and Ruby set Qrow down.

"Guys, I don't know if all of us can make that climb." Jaune stated looking at the mountains.

Ruby looks at Qrow, concerned, before rushing forward to the sign post. "Okay. Well, what about this place? Kuro… Kuroyuri? Can we get help there?"

Jaune approaches.

Ren narrowed his eyes a bit. "That village was destroyed years ago."

"But if it takes us around the mountains, it's the best bet we've got." Jaune countered.

"It will take too long." Ren said sternly.

Ruby shook her head. "The town would have had a doctor, right? Maybe we could scavenge for medicine!"

Jaune nods. "Right!"

Ren closed his eyes, lowering his head and shaking it. "We're not going to find anything! We just have to press on!"

Sonic got between Jaune and Ren gripping their collars. "ENOUGH! Both of you! We'll split up! Ren! Take Pyrrha and Nora to the mountains! Myself, Ruby, and Jaune to Kuroyuri!"

"No, we're supposed to stick together! We keep each other safe!" Jaune disagreed with Sonic making him glare at the Blonde Knight.

"We don't have time for safe! If they make it to Mistral, they'lll bring back help! If they don't, at least we'll have a better view of the land! Up there, we can see if there's somewhere else we can go! Get your head together!" Sonic let's the two go taking a deep breath.

Ren turns and looks at Nora. They exchange small, affectionate smiles. Still holding his gaze, Nora drops her hand from his shoulder. All six remain silent, feeling the weight of the choice before them. Qrow coughs, making them all turn in concern and giving the motive to continue.

Jaune looks at Ruby before turning to Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. "OK." He steps forward and he and Ren hug each other. "Just take care of each other."

Nora smiles at Ren. "We always have."

"Be safe Jaune." Pyrrha said giving her boyfriend a kiss on his cheek.

On the path to Kuroyuri, Jaune and Ruby lift Qrow as Sonic walks ahead with Caliburn in hand. They turn to Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren, who are on the path through the mountains to Mistral. They nod and Nora waves. Ren starts to turn, looks back one more time, and then runs. Nora and Pyrrha follow. An aerial shot shows the split Team SPRNJR going in separate directions before the visual focuses in on just Sonic, Jaune, and Ruby.

"They're gonna be fine, Jaune." Sonic said trying to comfort him.

Jaune closes his eyes. "You don't know that."

Ruby turns forward, her expression saddening. Moving forward, her step leaves an imprint on the ground, shortly after overlapped by Jaune's own. The visual pulls back again, revealing that their footsteps tread over another, larger mark—the same one discovered in Shion.

 **To Be Continued...**


	10. Chapter 10 Kuroyuri!

_**What is up everyone? How is everyone's spring break? Good? I hope so, well I am here to bring in a fresh chapter! I got nothing to announce so enjoy the chapter!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and RWBY, they go to their respective creators.**_

The scene opens on a view of Oscar's aunt's farm at sunrise, then cuts to the interior of Oscar Pine's bedroom where he is staring at a packed, green backpack on his bed. He looks toward the window. His fingers tense for a moment. Cut to Oscar, now wearing the backpack, walking along a dirt road away from the farm. He stops and looks over his shoulder, then faces forward, adjusts the backpack and resumes walking. Cut to Oscar following a dirt road in a forest.

 _"I'm sorry."_ Ozpin apologized with dolor in his tone.

Oscar closed his eyes. "You know… the weirdest part is how it feels. Leaving home is crazy. Going to the city is crazy. Everything you've told me is completely crazy. But it doesn't feel crazy anymore. It feels like I'm doing the right thing."

 _"Well… I suppose that's good."_

"No. It's scary." Oscar said in lamentation.

Oscar bows his head as he speaks, then lifts his head up and looks nervously at the sky as thunder crackles in the distance. He quickens his pace down the road.

Cut to a train station. It has begun storming, and Oscar hurries to the covered platform, holding his hands over his head. When he gets there, he walks up to a large machine with a screen on it, which reads:

"Welcome! Scan Lien to begin."

He rests a Lien card against a scanner. The screen displays an error message that reads:

"ERROR" Unable to complete request.

REASON GIVEN: Insufficient Funds (Code: 726)

Oscar grimaces. "Stupid thing. I'm assuming whatever weird magic this is doesn't come with an infinite supply of money?"

 _"I'm afraid you'll have to solve this one on your own."_ Ozpin said.

Oscar suddenly becomes more alert. "Huh?"

 _"Be on your guard."_ Ozpin said in a hushed tone.

"What do you mean?"

The view slowly pans to the left, moving out from beside the machine. Soon, Hazel Rainart, who is walking toward Oscar, becomes visible.

"Here." The voice of Hazel suddenly said.

Oscar turns his attention to Hazel, who continues to approach him. Hazel stops near the machine and raises up his fist. In response, Oscar flinches away and widens his eyes, uttering a small noise. Hazel then slams his fist down on the machine, which beeps and makes the sound of dispensing paper, while Oscar straightens up and stares. As Hazel moves his fist, the machine spits out a small ticket. While Hazel walks away, Oscar picks the ticket up and then looks at him. Hazel then stops and looks back at him.

"Don't let such a small obstacle block your path." Hazel said as he walks in the train.

He resumes on his way, while Oscar watches.

"That man. I felt… Who is he?" Oscar inquired in bewilderment.

A train horn is heard in the distance.

 _"Someone from my past. Someone who should not be taken lightly."_ Ozpin said gravely serious.

Cut to the other side of the train tracks as the silver-gray train arrives. Its engine has glowing cyan markings, each in the form of two parallel lines with a series of evenly-spaced diagonal lines connecting them.

A cracked signed bearing the name Kuroyuri rests against ruins. An upwards pan and several cuts show the dilapidated village. Sonic Maruti, Ruby Rose, and Jaune Arc walk down the road, carrying Qrow Branwen on a stretcher. They pause and look unhappily around.

"Oh, man…" Jaune groaned.

"Come on. Let's keep going." Sonic said walking ahead.

They continue forward.

Ruby looks at the deserted buildings. "Any of these places look like a pharmacy?"

"It's … honestly hard to tell." Jaune said.

Among the ruins is an abandoned bicycle.

"Ren really didn't want to come here, did he?" Sonic pondered as he remembers Ren's reluctance of coming to the abandoned village. "I… I can feel his-no his and Nora presence. It seems this was their home."

Ruby looks at Sonic and then to Jaune. "Really?"

Jaune sighs. "Yes Ruby. This is where Ren and Nora lived in… just like Sonic pointed out."

The two continue on and the image pans away from them to show a withered waterlily on the ground atop a minuscule puddle.

A pretty waterlily in full bloom floats on an aqueduct in the town center of Kuroyuri. Ren, as a child, looks eagerly at it with a smile.

 **-Music: Kairi (Kingdom Hearts 2)-**

An laughs lightly. "Why, hello, little Lie. Are we trying to catch a fish?"

"I've found a flower on the water!" Little Ren estatically showed his discovery to An.

An smiled. "Oh, I see!"

Ren rushes over to his mother. "Can we take it home and plant it in the garden?"

"Oh no, sweetheart, that flower lives here." An said.

Ren looks down dejectedly and An rubs his head.

"But I'll tell you what you can do. Take this Lien and go find something nice for your father's return. He's been hunting for quite some time. I bet that the journey's been very tiring, don't you?" Ren's mother said kindly giving him so Lien.

Ren takes it. "Yes."

"Do you think you'll know what he wants?"

Ren pondered about the question for a second before replying. "I think … he wants a water flower in the garden!"

An chuckles. "Why did you have to inherit my sass?"

She gives her son a playful nudge on his bottom as Ren turns away on his new mission to find a gift for his father. He crosses the planks that serve as a bridge over the aqueduct. An watches him go with a smile.

A wide shot of Kuroyuri shows a prosperous and peaceful town. Ren rushes up to a weapons stand.

"What can I buy with this?" Ren asked.

Young Blacksmith chuckles. "Well, something just your size."

He holds up two wooden toy weapons. One is a sword, reminiscent of Crocea Mors and the other is a hammer reminiscent of Magnhild. Ren deflates in disappointment at being unable to buy a new weapon for his father. He next waits in line at a liquor merchant.

"Sake, please."

The wine merchant gives him a bemused look, and with a sigh, shakes his head in the negative. Ren groans, a little frustrated. He walks through the open town before stopping to look in a bakery window. There are several treats, including slices of lemon meringue pie, frosted cupcakes, actual cakes with frosted waterlilies atop them, and a shelf of kitten-shaped bread. Ren is happily excited but turns when he hears a voice.

"Hey, get back here!" A tall kid cried.

Ren looks around the corner of the bakery, following the sound of a group of kids laughing and mocking. Three boys stand in a semicircle around a dirty looking girl who is crouched on the ground and clutching a loaf of bread. It's young Nora Valkyrie.

"Where'd you get that bread? I didn't see you pay for it, thief!" The Tall Kid spat at the young Nora.

"No, look, it's all moldy!" The Short Kid exclaimed.

"I think she got it from the trash!"

The Medium Boy tried reaching out. "Lemme see!"

Nora bites his finger before he can touch the bread.

"Ah! She bit me!" The Medium Boy cried reeling back.

Tall Boy looks at Medium Boy's hand in horror before Medium Boy pushes Nora backward onto the ground. Nora whimpers for a second but gets up and grabs her bread off the ground. She takes a few more steps back before crouching away again.

"Where'd she come from?"

Ren watches, taking a few uncertain steps forward.

"She's dressed all weird!"

"I bet she's abandoned! Like a dog or something!"

"Does that mean I have rabies?"

All three chuckle meanly. Nora sees Ren getting closer and looks at him with big, blinking eyes. The bullies see her focus has changed to behind them and they turn to look. Ren panics at having their focus and he turns to run, only to immediately bump into the legs of his father, Li Ren. He falls back and looks up at him.

"Father?" Ren asked in surprise.

"What is happening here?" Li asked looking at the three bullies.

The three bullies panic and look around, uncertain whether to run yet. Nora, however, sees this as her opening and takes off with her bread. After a beat the bullies decide to run, too.

"Do you wish to run with the rest of them?" Li asked his son with a firm look.

Ren is standing upright, but he lowers his face in response. "... no father…"

Li puts his hand on his son's shoulder and lowers to one knee. "Sometimes the worst action to take … is taking no action at all. Go home. I need to speak with the mayor."

Li leaves. Ren watches briefly and turns away thoughtfully.

 **-Music Ends-**

Jaune walks up to Ruby in the ruins of Kuroyuri. Both are looking dejected.

"Nothing…" Jaune said in dejection.

"We should get back to Qrow." Sonic said walking.

Qrow Branwen leans against a dead sakura tree, groaning. Though not conscious, he holds a hand over his wound. A wide shot shows Ruby crouched near his legs with Sonic and Jaune standing over them both. A creature makes a loud noise from off in the distance, causing the trio to turn being alert. Jaune's hand immediately goes to his sword and looks around for the source of the noise.

"It's far off." Ruby said looking around.

"I know, but Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora are still out there." The Blonde Knight said.

"Yeah but look alive you two. From what I am sensing, it's coming to us… get ready to strike." Sonic said as he get Caliburn from its sheath.

Ruby looks at Qrow before standing and approaching Jaune. "I'm sorry."

"Huh?" He turns around to face her, though she is not looking up.

Ruby bit her lip trying not to cry. "This is all my fault. I should have never dragged you guys into this…"

"You didn't drag us in. We wanted to come." Jaune said with a little of confidence in his tone.

"But you didn't know about Tyrian, about—"

"Ruby. We lost … We nearly lost Pyrrha. And Penny, and your team, and in a way …your sister. But you're still here, despite everything you've lost, everything you could still lose, you chose to come out here." Jaune and Sonic said in unison with smirks on their faces.

Ruby turns to face Jaune and her boyfriend, and becomes emotional as they continues.

"Because you felt like you could make a difference." Sonic and Jaune said in unison again.

She lifts her head and looks at them.

"You didn't drag us along. You gave us the courage to follow you." Jaune said. He puts his hand on her shoulder. She smiles at him, grateful, and he smiles back.

 **-Music: The Madness (Sonic Adventure 2)-**

Set to ominous music, the scene changes to a framed picture of the Ren family. Young Ren is sleeping until the sound of Grimm awakens him.

An rushes in. "Lie, get up. We have to go!"

"Mother?" Ren responded feeling tired and uncertain.

An grabs his arm and pulling him up. "Now, right now, okay? Let's go!"

In the kitchen beyond Ren's bedroom, the outer door bursts inward as a heavily-breathing Li enters.

"Li!"

Li grabs his weapon. "An, what are you doing?! We need to hurry!"

"We can go to the safehouse!" An said being frantic.

Li shook his head. "No. I saw the beast. We need a Huntsman. And you two need to leave."

"What?"

The creature sounds, loud and ominous, causing all three to look up at the ceiling and walls in alarm.

Ren gulps. "Mother?"

An gets down to her knees to make eye contact with Ren. "It's OK, darling. Everything's OK."

The roof breaks above her head and the screen cuts to black. Crashing and a faint scream can be heard. They are soon followed by the muffled screams of many and loud footsteps accompanied by Li's heavy breathing.

Ren comes to gradually, held by his running father. Bits of flaming sparks speckle the air. "Father? What… Where's Mother?"

Li is bleeding profusely from above his left eye. A woman nearby screams.

"What's going on?! Where is Mother?!" Ren asked with tears falling from his eyes.

Villagers run in a panic, and black specks of ash float with the sparks. A rumble caused the ground to shake and Li falls, dropping Ren and landing on his back.

"Father!"

Everyone runs past them as Li pushes himself up slightly.

"Lie, you have to run…" Li said weakly.

Ren moves to his father. "No. Don't. Please. Get up!"

He looks up when he hears the Grimm roaring noise again. Behind them, people run while slowing flowed by the silhouetted image in a cloud of smoke. It is a Nuckelavee Grimm, a horse-shaped creature with a human torso growing out if its back.

Li smiled a little. "Listen to me, son. You have to be brave now. Do you understand?"

Ren shakes his head. "No, please. Please, I can't!"

Li withdraws a knife from its sheath on his hip. "Yes, you can!"

He puts the knife in Ren's hand and pushes him away before falling back with a groan. Ren looks at the knife.

"Take action, son…"

Getting to his feet, Li looks down at his son. "Your mother and I love you."

Ren gripped the knife tighter and fighting the tears. "Father…"

The Nuckelavee stomps on the ground behind them. Li turns and readies his bow.

Li readies his bow and arrow. "Go!" He notches an arrow and pulls it back. He shouts at his son one more time as he releases the arrow. "Run!"

Ren runs and Li lets loose arrow after arrow at the towering Grimm.

Under an arch and jumping sideways down to a landing beside some steps, Ren crouches, panicking. The cries of Nevermores overhead cause him to look up. He hears sobbing from across the way and discovers Nora crouching beneath a building. A Nevermore flaps loudly and lands on the roof of a building near to the girl. It lets out a loud, dangerous cry. The Nuckelavee stomps through the center of town releasing its own roar. Ren realizes that his father is now dead and cries. Behind him, the waterlily for the aqueduct floats untarnished. There's another Nevermore cry as Ren continues to sob. He stills and Aura shimmers over him, graying out his appearance. Ren lets out a calm breath as color returns. The next shot is of him running toward Nora, and he moves under the building to where she is.

Ren puts his hand on her shoulder. "Hey!"

Nora gasps but calms when she sees that she's not been found by anything intending her harm.

Ren smiles a little bit. "We have to be brave."

The Nevermore cries above them, leaning down its head closer to the ground. Nora whimpers and then throws her arms around Ren. His eyes and arms go wide before he accepts in. Putting his arms around her the shimmer happens again and both of them lose the color vivacity in their appearance. The Nevermore, now shown to be dangerously close to where the two children crouch, turns its head and lets out a confused cry. Smoke rises from its body as it turns and cries again before launching into the air. Color returns to the two children and the sounds of heavy steps are nearby. Ren watches the Nuckelavee come closer. Nora turns and together they watch and wait as it pauses next to where they hide before moving on.

Nora looks up at Ren. "I'm scared…"

Ren looks at Nora's eyes. "Me, too."

The shot pulls back to show the wooden hammer on the ground. Ren moves to retrieve it but Nora clutches his arm, afraid.

"It's OK." Ren said trying to reassure her.

With another whimper, Nora lets him go and watches with big eyes as he moves away. Ren grabs the wooden hammer and returns to her.

"We'll keep each other safe. From here… to forever." Ren said with the fear in him disappearing. He offers her the hammer. She looks down at it, clearly emotional before she takes it from him. "What's your name?"

"Nora."

"My name's Lie Ren."

He smiles at her, blinking.

 **-Music Ends-**

Wind blows with the whistling note of high altitude as present-day Ren walks a stony ledge. Before him is more of the mountain, with a cave just ahead.

"We never get the easy path, do we?" Ren asked Nora.

Nora puts her hands behind her head. "Easy's no fun anyway." She drops her hands and turns to him. "You OK?"

Ren nods. "Mmm. And you? How about you Pyrrha?"

"I am doing alright Ren." Pyrrha answered smiling a bit.

"I've got you here, don't I?" Nora inquired looking in the cave.

Ren looks at her as if he does not know what to make of her response. "..."

Nora gestures with her hand as she moves forward. "Come on. There's more than one way up a mountain."

Ren watches her for a beat before smiling. Thunder rumbles and Ren loses the smile, turning to look up at the sky as Pyrrha passes him.

"Hey! There's wind blowing out of this cave!" Nora called as Pyrrha was already there with her

Shown from inside the cave, Ren catches up to Nora. Leaves blow outward toward them.

"Think it might lead to the peak?" Pyrrha asked the duo.

"I suppose there's only one way to find ou—ah!"

He cuts off as a large piece of fabric abruptly blows out from the cave and covers his face. Nora giggles, covering her mouth with her hands, as Ren frees himself. Pyrrha herself struggled not to laugh.

Ren playfully rolls his eyes. "Yes, yes. Very funny." He looks down at the marked fabric in his hands and goes still. Nora lowers her hands and steps closer.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Nora asked.

Pyrrha's eyes widen in realization. "This is the symbol for Shion Village!"

"Shion? But that's… that's the village where we found the Huntsman. It's weeks away from here!" Nora said in disbelief.

Ren drops the fabric and runs into the cave.

"Ren! Wait!" Pyrrha and Nora called in unison.

Ren stops once he is far enough into the cave to have a good look at what's there. Nora catches up to him and becomes alarmed at what she sees.

"Oh my gosh…" Nora said feeling dread coming upon her.

In the spacious area, weapons speckle every place you can look. Swords, axes and staffs are all either propped up or on the ground. Ren moves in and picks up an arrow. He studies it while Nora approaches just behind him. As she looks he also sees what's on the ground… the Nuckelavee hoofprint. It is pointed toward another opening on the opposite end of the cave. Several trees are outside this opening, just below. One at a time, moving away from the cave where Ren can be soon looking out, the trees shake.

Ren shook his head in rising trepidation. "No…"

"What's going…" Pyrrha stopped seeing what Nora and Ren saw. "Oh my…"

Before the three of them are the shaking trees and the abandoned village of Kuroyuri. Nora takes his hand and he returns the grip before the scene cuts to black. The Nuckelavee roars.

 **To Be Continued...**


	11. Chapter 11 Taking Control!

_**What is up everyone! It's your boy Deku here! Bringing you another awesome chapter! We're near the end of this man. It's been a good ride. Enjoy.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and RWBY!**_

An arcing slash of fire moves across the black screen, quickly followed by another. There is a brief beat before two more fiery arcs slash across the screen. An irregular circle of flame bursts outward from the center, revealing behind the black a panting Cinder Fall. She is in a large, empty room. Behind her is a darkened arched hallway. On either side of the arch, the walls of the room have a low ledge the bear several burning white candles. Four Beowolves approach Cinder, moving in a semicircle formation. Cinder swings her left arm at them, sending another slash of fire. It cuts through the middle of all four Grimm and they disintegrate away. Cinder pants again, still upright yet taking a breather. She does not get long, as heavy footsteps approach from her left. She gasps and looks in their direction. A Beringel leaps into the air, ready to deliver a blow to her with its fist. Cinder, however, pulls back her right arm and pushes a ball of flame right at it. It, too, disintegrates. As its body disappears, Cinder falls to her knees, breathing heavily.

"Enough." Salem walks forward while Cinder continues to struggle for normal breathing. "I thought you were the girl who wanted power. Did you lie to me?"

Cinder winces on the force of Salem's question before looking upward. Turning to face Salem, Cinder clearly shakes her head in the negative.

Salem narrows her eyes. "Then stop holding back. If you wish to master your new powers, you must -"

Salem is cut off by the sound of heavy doors opening. On the opposite end of the stone hall, a sobbing Tyrian Callows enters. He falls to his knees once in the room, both hands flat on the floor and his head bowed.

"I'm sorry." He apologized softly raising his hand to his chin. "She'll forgive me. Pleeeease."

"Forgive me…"

"Tyrian!"

She stands before him. He raises his body but remains sitting on his legs while Cinder rises from the stone floor behind Salem.

Salem held out her arm imperially. "Your task - were you successful?"

Tyrian bowed his head in shame. "N-no."

Cinder's eye widens. Salem also looks surprised for a moment before narrowing her eyes and walking away. Cinder watches their leader for her further reaction without looking at Tyrian.

"But-but hope is not lost! My tail, my stinger … I-I poisoned him, Qrow! He would not be a nuisance to you any longer, no … no longer! Have I done well? Have I pleased you?" Tyrian pleaded with hope.

Salem closed her eyes. "The last eye is blinded … you disappoint me."

Salem leaves. Tyrian falls forward, wailing. A Beowolf approaches, all focused on Tyrian's negative emotions. It ignores Cinder and leaps upon him. Tyrian sends it away with a single blow and it lands on its back. Still wailing, Tyrian opens his weapons and leaps atop the Beowolf. He slashes at it repeatedly, tears streaming down his face. His wails gradually turn into laughter as he vents his grief into the butchering of the Grimm. Cinder watches, horrified.

 **-Music: Family (Sonic X)-**

Outside of her home on Patch, Yang Xiao Long spray paints her robotic arm and half of Ember Celica bright yellow. She goes into a tool shed and takes the tarp that had been covering her motorcycle, Bumblebee, off.

"I don't remember saying you were ready." Taiyang Xiao Long is leaning against the frame of the open shed door, arms crossed.

"Oh yeah? You're gonna try and stop me?" Yang inquired without turning to her father.

Taiyang chuckles. "No. I think I'm still too sore after our last fight. I just wanted a better goodbye than a letter. And, I've also got a question for you."

Yang turns around ready to answer Taiyang's inquiry.

"Where are you going?"

Yang arched an eyebrow at the question. "What do you mean?"

Taiyang moves into the shed. "Well, despite asking him numerous times not to, I know that Qrow told you where your mother's been at these days. I know how much you wanna see her. I've stopped you in the past, but I won't anymore. And we both read the note. We know your sister's headed to Mistral. So, where are you going?"

Yang looks down at the tarp as Taiyang makes his point. She remains gazing down for another couple of beats before looking up at her father. Her eyes narrow in determination, her decision made.

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: No Past To Remember (Sonic Heroes)-**

Weiss Schnee steps out of her bedroom, carrying a white suitcase and Myrtenaster. Weiss looks around cautiously, her footsteps loudly resounding in the ornate hallway. She jumps and gasps when Klein Sieben appears right behind her. He puts his finger to his lips and shushes her before smiling.

"Let's go. Where is Master Shadow?" Klein whispered.

"He's waiting at the place where I decided for our meetup." She answered in a hushed voice.

The two move quickly across the carpet, their footsteps muffled. Side by side, they go down the staircase and clickety-clack their way across the entrance hall. They are moving down another hallway when Klein's Scroll buzzes. They both look at it with squinty eyes.

"Master Whitley! I...um... yes, of course. I'll be just a moment." Klein answers as he clicks his Scroll off and tucks it away. "Head to the first floor library. I'll meet you there."

They separate, going in opposite directions. Weiss is soon creeping outside her father's study door when she hears a glass crash followed by the rising voice of James Ironwood. She crouches behind a cushioned chair against the wall.

"You need to control yourself!" Ironwood shouts.

"You're talking to me about control? Do you even hear what you're saying?" Jacques Schnee said in fury. "Your so called "bodyguard" is good for nothing degenerate!"

"I am basing everything on my report from your daughter and Shadow." He states firmly.

"A daughter you stole!"

Weiss moves closer to the door to listen.

"Oh, we are not getting into that again!"

"Oh, yes, we have far more pressing to discuss, starting with your apparent lunacy!" Jacques barked at Ironwood.

"Jacques!" Snarled Ironwood.

The scene changes to an overhead view inside Jacques' study. He is seated at his desk while Ironwood has both hands on it, leaning over him from the other side.

Ironwood sighs heavily. "Winter is one of my best. If she's telling me there's a threat in Mistral then I am not going to take that news lightly. She's been there for weeks, people are mobilizing, sudden spikes in weapons and Dust trades. Someone is about to make a play and I do not trust Leo to stop them."

Jacques points an accusing finger at him. "You've never trusted anyone other than yourself!"

"And for good reason!" Ironwood shouts at him.

Weiss covers her mouth with her hand as she gasps at the sound of Ironwood slamming his fist onto the desk.

"If Oz had just listened to me from the start…"

Jacques shook his head. "You need to get a grip."

"That's exactly what I'm doing. Our people need protection. By this time next week, the Kingdom of Atlas will be officially closing its borders. No one in; no one out. Without the council's permission." Ironwood explains his motives.

"You mean, without your permission?" The Schnee King raised an eyebrow being puzzled.

Ironwood nods. "And if that becomes the case, I would think you'd want to be on my good side."

Ironwood walks away from the desk, leaving Jacques to sigh and fold his hands. Outside the door, Weiss hears him coming and uses Myrtenaster to cast a black Glyph onto the handle. When Ironwood tries to leave, the handle turns but the door will not open, despite him shaking it.

"It's locked."

"What are you talking about?"

Ironwood steps back and slams into the door, shoulder first. It does not budge. Weiss turns and makes her way down the hall across the carpet while a couple more bangs come from the door. She reaches the library, but it is empty.

"Klein! Klein, where are you?" Weiss called looking around.

A hidden door in the corner opens, revealing Klein.

Klein who looked red-eyed. "Keep your voice down, I told you I'd be here."

Weiss rushes over, dropping both sword and suitcase in order to hug Klein with both arms. He returns the hug and his eyes turn black.

"Are you sure Mistral is safe?"

Weiss steps back and clasping her hands formally in front of her. "No, but it's where I'll find Winter. With me and Shadow together."

Klein's eyes turned brown. "I suppose she'd be the only family you have left after tonight…"

Weiss places her hand on his shoulder. "I'll always have you."

Klein nods. "You most certainly will."

A loud bang from further in the house makes them both look. It is clear that Ironwood has gotten finally out of Jacques' study.

"Klein?! Klein, get down here this instant!" Jacques shouts.

Klein's shoulders slump. "Go, now."

Weiss grabs her things and goes through the secret passage in the corner of the library. She pauses to turn and look at the butler one more time.

Weiss smiles. "Thank you, Klein."

He nods and shuts the door.

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: The Master Emerald (Sonic X)-**

It is daytime in Menagerie birds tweet in the trees around the balcony outside Ghira Belladonna's study. Inside, a shirtless Sun Wukong lies on the couch, his head propped on the arm and his hands folded over his abdomen. A slow pan of his body reveals a bandage on his left shoulder where Ilia's Weapon had struck him as Sun blinks awake. He raises his head with a groan.

"Blake?" Sun said groggily.

Blake Belladonna and Miles Tails Prower Uzumaki is sitting on a chair across from the couch, their bodies on other sides facing him. Her head is bowed and her hands are folded in her lap.

"This … is why, Sun. This is why I left them all behind." Blake muttered feeling miserable.

Sun sits up. "What are you … wait, where am I?"

Blake gets up and walks over to the couch as Sun looks around in confusion. "I am done seeing my friends hurt because of me."

"Blake…"

Blake turned with an angered look. "Shut up! Do you think I like being alone? Every day … every day I think about them! Ruby, Weiss, Yang … they were my friends! I loved them like I never thought I could love anybody. And I hope they hate me for leaving."

"You don't mean that." Tails spoke up with his sapphire eyes looking at her.

Blake narrowed her eyes. "Yes, I do!" She is forceful enough with her voice that Sun pulls back.

Blake holds her hand to her head. "Everyone thinks they can help me, but they can't. You saw Ilia last night and she's not even the worst! No. No more. They're better off without me. I made my choices and I'll deal with the consequences because they belong to me."

Sun frowned. "You think you're being selfless, but you're not. Yeah, that chameleon friend of yours got me pretty good. But I'd do it all again if it meant protecting you. Tails agrees." Blake turns to face him, surprised. "I could promise Yang would say the same."

Blake turns away, looking down.

"You can make your own choices, sure. But you don't get to make ours. When your friends fight for you, it's because we want to. So stop pushing us out! It hurts more than anything that our enemies can do to us. Our enemy can bruise, put us in a comatose, or even kill us. But those never come close to a friend who is hurting and refusing to open up." Tails said with his eyes closed.

Sun looks at the floor and Blake, who had turned to face him, turns away again. "But, if it makes you feel any better, the next time I go up against Lizard Girl, it won't be for you - it'll be to get even." He attempts to point to his would with his left thumb, but he can not complete the motion and it aggravates his injury. Sun winces in pain and Blake laughs.

Blake smiles as she looks at both Tails and Sun. My heroes.

The door behind Blake, the same one that Sun crashed through the night before, crashes down again. This time it is Kali Belladonna embarrassing herself through eavesdropping too closely. Behind her, Ghira looks down at his wife on the ground with his hand on his hip.

Kali pops upward again. "Oh! Oh dear, would you look at that, he's awake! Thank goodness!"

Ghira covered his face with his hand. "Kali, please."

Tails laughed in amusement of their expressions.

"Mom!"

Sun waves. "Hey, Mrs. B!"

"What are you doing?!" Blake asked looking embarrassed as she walks to her parents.

Kali had lost her playful expression. "Well, sweetheart, your father needed to speak with the two of you."

"Huh?"

A scroll is set down on the coffee table. It shows a master folder labeled W. F. with six subfolders inside. The subfolders are labeled: Assignment, E.L., P.R., E.W., S. F., Untitled.

Ghira narrows his eyes. "I'm afraid you were right to be suspicious."

"What do you mean?"

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: Inside Information (Sword Art Online 2)-**

"Adam Taurus is planning to overthrow the leader of the White Fang, and stage a full-scale attack on Haven Academy. It would be the Fall of Beacon all over again." Ghira explained with grave concern causing Tails' eyes to widen in shock.

"Not if we destroy the White Fang once and for all." Sun said seriously.

"No." She stands up, full of decision. "We're not going to destroy the White Fang. We're going to take it back."

Tails stands with his eyes shrouded by his bangs. "If we're going to do that… we're going to destroy Adam… once and for all…" His eyes turned red and silt.

 **-Music Ends-**

 **-Music: Madness (Sonic Adventure 2)-**

Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie run through the abandoned Kuroyuri hoping that they're not too late.

"Not again, not again…" Ren repeated with rising fear.

"I see them!" Pyrrha sees the trio.

They come to a stop after passing under an arch leading to the center of town. Ren is panting, but Nora is hardly winded. Ren lifts his head and his worried eyes change to ones smiling in relief. In front of them, Sonic Maruti, Jaune Arc, and Ruby Rose face the other way, but abruptly turn, Jaune putting his hand on his weapon. Qrow Branwen is propped up against the tree.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ruby asked.

"Did you hear that noise? What was that?!" Jaune asked with an panicked expression.

Ren's eyes grow wide and he falls to his knees, clearly alarmed. "No…"

"Ren! What is it?!" Ruby asked her friend wanting to know what's going on.

The sound of plodding footsteps can be heard coming closer.

"Wait, you guys hear that?" Jaune inquired hearing the footsteps.

"No…" Ren said in dolor protest.

"Ren?" Nora called.

"GET READY FOR BATTLE!" Sonic shouts unsheathing Caliburn.

The footsteps come to a stop. A bone horse head breathes loudly, exhaling black smoke. Within the bones are glowing red lights and around it is the black flesh of a Grimm. Ren lifts his head. Weapons can be seen, stuck into an out of scene body that has bones sticking out perpendicular to its spine. Slowly, a torso raises, revealing a horned, humanoid Grimm. The horns and front part of the face are bone while the mouth is merely thin strips of Grimm flesh stretching across an opening. The mouth, the bones, and the eyes all glow red. The Nuckelavee twitches its head and roars as the screen cuts to black.

 **To Be Continued...**


	12. Chapter 12 No Safe Haven!

_**This is it people! The end of the road! The final chapter of SSKT 4! It's been a fun ride, can't wait for RWBY Volume 5 coming at the early fall of this year! 179 days away! That's all, and enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and RWBY!**_

 **-Music: Berserk Battle (My Hero Academia)-**

The sounds of thunder and gunfire are heard against a black screen. A wide shot of Kuroyuri shows the empty, degraded town. A billowing cloud of dust and pieces of wood rise in the distance around the top of a tree that is barely visible above the town rooftops. Sonic Maruti, Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie all fall back by the dead cherry tree. Qrow Branwen is still unconscious and propped against it. The Nuckelavee comes into view, twitching its various body parts. It sends out a shock wave roar that causes all six teenagers to flinch. The Grimm looks at the teenagers and turns its head to look at Qrow and begins running toward him. Jaune sheaths his sword and makes a run for Qrow. The Nuckelavee lashes out with one of its arms, able to extend it at a far reach. Jaune avoids it and gets Qrow upright, but the Nuckelavee is heading right for them. Ren uses his Semblance to hide Jaune and Qrow from the Grimm, which stops short and looks about in confusion. Jaune stands still, staring at the Grimm.

"Just get him to safety!" Ren said to him.

Jaune walks away with Qrow while the battle resumes. He sets Qrow down behind a building and narrows his eyes at the wounded man before turning to leave. Qrow grabs him by the hand, but falls unconscious before he can say anything. Jaune gives Qrow another look before rejoining the fight.  
The Grimm is using its arms to grab hold of each of Jaune's teammates, but is continually distracted by the fire of the next one.

"Guys, keep moving, go in a circle!" Jaune said.

The team follows this plan, and Ruby gets distracted when Jaune sheaths his sword after landing a strike.

"What are you doing?" Ruby inquired before realizing what Jaune was going to do.

She smiles when she realizes that Jaune is using his upgraded Crocea Mors to land strikes on the beast.

The fight continues and Ren ends up pinned to a building by a Nuckelavee extended arm.

"Ruby!" Nora's voice calls out to her.

Ruby nods, and she uses Crescent Rose to launch Nora in between Ren and the Nuckelavee's would-be fatal strike with its other hand. Magnhild is pinned to the building above Ren, with Nora dangling from it.

Ren looks up at Nora.

Nora pulls her skirt to hide herself. "Stop looking!"

Ren covered his eyes. "Ah-ugh!"

Nora grins to herself.

The Nuckelavee flings Nora around until she is knocked to the ground with her Aura depleted. Ren uses StormFlower to give himself leverage to pull the Nuckelavee hand off of him. He repeatedly goes after the creature, exhibiting reckless behavior, his eyes wild.

"Ren! Control yourself!" Pyrrha shouts being perplexed of Ren's change.

Ren ignores her and ends up on the ground beside Nora, separated from StormFlower and his Aura also depleted. The two partners rise together, Nora first. Ren's eyes are only on the creature, and Nora tackles him and drags him under a building. The Nuckelavee advances, but Jaune blocks it with Crocea Mors. Ren attempts to rejoin the fight but Nora holds him back by the wrist, her head down.

"Nora, let go! Nora, they're going to get hurt if we don't—"

 **-Music Ends-**

Without even looking up, Nora slaps Ren. He stops and turns to face her, and she finally lets go, putting her hands in her lap.

"No. I won't let you kill yourself like this. After everything we've been through, I won't let it end." She said somberly. "Not like this…"

Ren remembered something which made him take a meditative position and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath muttering "Find my center…" "Be like the lily…".

 **(Flashback)**

 **-Music: My Hero Academia (My Hero Academia)-**

 _As Ren skids on the ground panting as he looks at a whirlwind of leaves swirling around him as Espio Feng lands on the ground walking towards the exhausted Ren._

" _Not good enough Ren." Espio states with his eyes closed._

 _Ren sighs as he wipes the sweat off of his forehead. "That's the tenth time we've been at this; I don't see the point of this Sensei Espio. What are you trying to show me?"_

" _You're unbalanced. Every warrior needs to have balance not only in life but also in combat. You rely on your physical and little on the spiritual. This is what I am trying to show you Ren. Even Sonic himself has a balance; we all struggle to find our center. But from what I can see from what the wind tells me about you, you're like a lily in a dangerous land. So Ren, you'll encounter things that will remind you of your past. Only yourself has the power to become someone more or fall to the pits of insanity." Espio leans down picking up a lily from the pond and turns to Ren. "See this lily Ren, observe as I place it into the stream where the murky water is."_

 _Espio gently places the lily into the stream where the murky water was as the lily went into the dirty water, it still stood there looking cleansed even with the dirty water slightly submerging it, thus seeing Ren's magenta eyes widen in understanding as he looks at Espio._

" _I see…" Ren mutters._

 _Espio smiled with his eyes closed. "Yes, that's what I am trying to show you. In the darkness of this world, one can overcome it and become one with the nature with this world and not become defiled with the evil temptations of the dark. And also granted a power unlike no other; Tails is an example of that, when he was a child, he suffered through intense abuse by an evil spirit that his parents sealed within him but as he grew not only physically but mentally. He became like that lily through all the darkness he had to face. But his greatest trial that he even admit to me was himself. He had to face a hate incarnate of himself. Of course he had struggled to find the answer to completely cleanse himself until he realized that the answer was with him all along… friendship. With that, he embraced his hate incarnate with no ill intent behind him, his heart was filled with genuine kindness. Tails was only 11 when he accomplished this feat. Ren, take this quote from a Chinese Neo-Confucian philosopher named "Zhou Dunyi" from one of his great writings of the Book of Taiji Tushuo: "I love the lotus because while growing from mud, it is unstained." Take this lesson to heart Ren. Be like the lily. Life will be like the mud that will test you and beyond your limits but never lose yourself mentally, when your mind starts to get cloudy then meditate, find your center, and fight. You're still growing Ren and you'll accomplish great things. I have faith in you. Like a lily, you'll have the power to use your Chōetsu (Translation: Transcendence) to not only guide yourself but your friends to victory."_

 _Ren bows his head with a smile on his face. "Thank you Sensei…"_

" _Now go Ren, your friends need you." Espio said as he vanishes with the wind._

 **-Music Ends-**

 **(Flashback Ends)**

 **-Music: Master Roshi (The Infinite Master) (HalusaTwin)-**

Ren opened his eyes with a Harlequin green color aura appearing on his outline as his eyes turn to Nora seeing his memory of Nora as a scared little girl before blinking and seeing her normally. Like back then, she has tears in her eyes. He pulls the knife his father gave him out of his boot. He holds it in both hands. Nora places her hand on the hilt with his and closes his fingers around it. She looks at him with a fierce, determined expression.

"We can do this." Nora said with fire in her eyes.

Ren looks at her with big eyes before nodding in agreement. Together they step out from under the building. Nora picks up Magnhild and the two are promptly joined by Ruby and Jaune.

Ruby turns to Ren with a surprised look. "R-Ren? What's with the light show?"

"Let's say I have found my center and it feels great." Ren states as the knife changed into a forest green tachi with a kanji stating "百合の忍者" (Translation: Ninja of the Lilies).

"風のバスターショット! (Translation: Wind Buster Shot)" Sonic shouts shooting a blast of white wind at the Nuckelavee. He sees Ren's tachi and whistles in admiration. "I guess I was right to assign Espio to train with you. Okay guys, here's the plan. Rubes! Jaune! You take care of the arms! Nora! Pyrrha! You will take care of the horse! Ren! You and I will hand the rest!"

Nora and Pyrrha heads to a rooftop. Ruby uses herself as a target until she manages to pin an arm to the ground with the tip of Crescent Rose. Ren sees Stormflower, he placed the sword on his teeth and held out his hands as Stormflower came into his hands, he threw them and then embeds itself into the body of the Grimm. Jaune is positioned to be the next target as Ren uses Jaune's shield to pin down the other arm.

"Hit it Jaune!" Sonic shouts.

Jaune strikes his sword through the Nuckelavee's arm into the ground.

"Nora! Pyrrha!" Ren calls.

Pyrrha and Nora nods with smiles on their faces as Pyrrha uses Akoúo̱ for Nora to jump on, the hammer happy girl jumps and free falls from the roof to land a killing blow to the head of the horse. Sonic had closed his eyes as Caliburn had a white glow, then he opened his jade orbs as he dashes at the struggling Grimm.

"I hope this trick works! 秘密の風の芸術：8つの葉のスタイル：真の秋のカッター! (Translation: Secret Wind Art: Eight Leaves Style: True Autumn Cutter)" Sonic cries swung his sword.

In a flash, 8 slash marks were on the Nuckelavee as it screeched in pain. The creature was starting to dissolve but Ren with his tachi in hand walked towards Grimm with a calm look on his face but his eyes had fury on them.

 _"For my mother…"_

He cuts off the Grimm's left arm.

 _"For my father…"_

He cuts off the Grimm's right arm.

 _"For all those that you've slain..."_

He strikes a gash into the flailing torso.

Ren closes his eyes as green lily petals formed around the blade of his tachi. "For myself! Take this 白い怒りのハンマー! (Translation: Lilies Hammer of Wrath)"

 **-Music Ends-**

He opens his eyes and swings with the tachi, beheading the Gimm as it dies in a pillar of green light his insignia in the sky and around them were lily petals. He drops the tachi and breathes out a sigh of relief only to be tackled by a giggling, triumphant Nora. He hugs her back and gives a single laugh as Pyrrha places her hand on his shoulder with an approving smile. Ruby runs into the alley where Qrow was left during the fight. She breathes a sigh of relief that he is still alive.

"It's quiet. Good job, kiddo." Qrow queasily states.

"Everyone! I think I hear something!" Pyrrha stating looking up. "Sounds like a ship!"

In the courtyard two wood and metal airships are coming in to land; Nora points in Qrow's direction.  
A man in a brown flight suit with an air tank on his back carries Qrow on a green stretcher with Ruby walking alongside them, her hand on Qrow's shoulder. The two rescue ships take off, everyone on board.

"How did you find us out here?" Jaune asked with a look of disbelief.

"We were on patrol and saw the smoke and also that green light. Nobody's been out here for years, thought something might be wrong." The Mistral Pilot answered.

Ruby crouched by Qrow and holding his hand. "What if we don't make it in time?"

"Ruby. Look ahead." Sonic said with a grin.

She looks up and sees the flourishing city before them. "We made it, Uncle Qrow."

Nora and Ren sit on the edge of the open rescue airship, their legs dangling. Nora is looking out at the city, feeling happy. Ren is watching her, begins smiling and puts his hand on hers. She gives a slight start but turns her hand over to hold his. She looks at him and gives him a smile, and he smiles back. Nora scoots closer and rests her head on his shoulder. Jaune and Pyrrha were looking at Nora and Ren with smiles on their faces, then the couple shared a kiss as the airships fly into the city.

Ruby walks into a double bed accommodation. It has barren furnishings: two beds, a large desk and a nightstand. Qrow sleeps under the blankets of one of the beds. Ruby sets the collapsed Crescent Rose on the empty bed and walks over to Qrow, putting her hand on his head.

 **-Music: HOSHI YORI SAKI NI MITSUKE TE AGERU (One Punch Man)-**

She walks over and sits at the desk, picking up the pen and writing on the notepad. _"Hey sis, I hope my letters have been reaching you and Dad. Hand-written stuff's never been super reliable, but I guess it's all we've got these days. Anyway, in case you haven't been getting them, I want to say I'm sorry for leaving the way I did. I know you told me it was a reckless idea, and after everything I've been through, I can definitely say you were right. It's been hard, on all of us, and I'm not just talking about the monsters we fought out here."  
_  
An Atlesian pilot counts Lien.

"Okay, you can hide out back in the cargo hold. I'll take you as far as I can, but if we get caught, you're on your own. Understand?" The Atlesian Pilot inquired.

Weiss nods affirmatively and begins walking forward with Shadow as Ruby's narration resumes.

 _"Every step we made took us further and further from the things we knew. And every morning we woke up wondering, if just over the next hill would be something good or something terrible."_

Airship takes off, and the scene changes to Blake in Ghira Belladonna's office. She places a small chest on the desk and opens it. Inside are various objects, including a flag with the new White Fang emblem, a spiral notebook and a book. Tails is seen in his room at the house meditating as blue and red airy wisps flow around him. Sun was out talking to his fellow Faunus kin.

 _"It's scary not knowing what's going to happen next. And the things we do know now—just how bad it can get—it almost makes it all worse."  
_  
Yang Xiao Long and Knuckles Geb is on the same ship Blake took to Menagerie. She is looking at a ticket and a photograph of Team STRQ, with Bumblebee and Asuraputa nearby.

 _"You told me once that bad things just happen. You were angry when you said it, and I didn't want to listen."  
_  
Taiyang Xiao Long stares at a framed photo of Team STRQ.

 _"But you were right, bad things do happen, all the time, every day. Which is why I'm out here, to do whatever I can, wherever I can, and hopefully do some good."_

Zwei barks at Tai, and he smiles, looking across the room at a framed photo of Team RWBY and Team SSKT. On the photo, "New Friends!" is written with a heart shape drawn near the writing.

 _"We've all lost something, and I've seen what loss can do to people."  
_  
Jaune is in his room with a frustrated look on his face as he stares at Crocea Mors propped up against the wall.

 _"But if we gave up every time we lost, then we'd never be able to move forward."_

Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren open the door. Jaune smiles as Ren sets his tachi next to Crocea Mors. Nora sits beside Jaune and leans on him and Pyrrha mirrors Nora's action on the other side, while Ren sits on the bed behind them and rests his hand on Nora's shoulder.

 _"We'd never have a chance to see what beautiful things the future might have waiting for us. We'd never have the strength to change; whether it's ourselves, or the world around us."_

Shadow who was resting against the wall with his eyes closed and Weiss, sitting on top of her suitcase in the airship's cargo hold, gazes out into the sunset and smiles as the airship flies over the Atlesian mountains. In Menagerie, Blake puts down the current White Fang flag and picks up the old white and blue flag. She lowers it and smiles at Sun, who is sitting in a chair with his arms behind his head in a relaxed position. Then she gazes at Tails who was being the bookworm that he is.

 _"And we'd never be there for other people who might one day be lost without us. This is what we were training for, Yang, to become Huntresses, to be the ones to stand up and do something about all the bad in the world."_

The Captain and First Mate smile and wave goodbye as Yang drives Bumblebee and Knuckles drives Asuraputa away from the port, headed toward Mistral. Elsewhere, Oscar sits in the dining car of the train as it crosses a bridge surrounded by mountains and water. He is staring at a poster advertising Haven Academy. The poster shows two figures: a female with an axe and a male with a rifle. The poster reads: "HAVEN ACADEMY: BE A HERO".

"Approaching, City of Mistral." The Train Operator states.

 _"Because there are plenty of people out there who are still lost and even more who will try to gain everything they can from their sorrow."_

Ilia Amitola lands on a rooftop in Menagerie fully healed in the night, as Corsac and Fennec Albain wait for her. Ilia gets on one knee and lowers her head after they turn to face her.

 _"Believe me when I say, I know it can feel impossible, like every single day is a struggle against some unstoppable monster we can never hope to beat."_

In Salem's Domain, Cinder Fall snaps her fingers, having defeated at least the two Beowolves disintegrating on the ground in her continued training. Mercury Black is leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. Emerald Sustrai puts two fingers on her head, concentrating as she generates a hallucination of Ruby begging for mercy. Cinder focuses a large stream of fire on the hallucination from her right hand, glaring at it with her eye glowing. Nearby, Salem is watching, looking pleased.

"But we have to try, if not for us, then for the people we've already—" Ruby stops and crosses out the last few words as she alters her statement. "Then for the people we haven't lost yet."

As Ruby finishes writing, the note is shown and two tears fall on the page.

"I miss you so much. I miss Weiss and Blake too. But I think you'd all be proud to know that I made it to Mistral. All of us did, and we even ran into Uncle Qrow along the way." Ruby said wiping her tears away.

Qrow pushes himself over with one arm and grunts while propping up his head with the other hand. Ruby stops writing to check on him. "Hey, aren't I normally the one saving you?"

"Well our roles could've been reversed Qrow." Sonic states walking in and embracing his girlfriend from behind making her giggle.

Ruby smiles down at Qrow as the narration of Ruby's letter resumes as the corner where Qrow's Weapon and Ozpin's Cane are resting is shown.

 _"He's going to take us to see Professor Lionheart, the headmaster of Haven Academy. And he told us some things that you're gonna wanna hear, things I can't trust will make it to you in this letter. But maybe, if you join us, he could tell you himself. With Beacon gone they'll need Dad at Signal more than ever, and I know you need to focus on yourself before I can expect you to come out with me. But it sure would be great to get Team RWBY and Team SSKT back together again!"  
_  
The scene transitions to Yang and Knuckles riding down a path on Bumblebee and Asuraputa, before coming to a stop at a crossroads and looking at a sign post. The signpost points right for Mistral and left for Kuroyuri, and the sign for Kuroyuri has "BANDITS" spray painted across it in big, red letters.

"You are in so much trouble when I find you." Yang states with a smirk on her face.

 _"Until next time, your loving sister, Ruby Rose!"_

" _Oh! Uh, PS. I'll be sure to give you the address of where we're staying in Mistral! I'd love to hear back from you and Dad, and I can't wait to fill you in on whatever's going to happen next! Now that we've made it across Anima I really think things are gonna start going our way."_

 **-Music Ends-**

The scene transitions to Professor Lionheart's office, showing a ladder against a bookshelf with a few books taken out. The previously described mahogany desk is seen along with a plaque and loose papers. On a small table lies a tea set, with gray colored teapots and cups decorated with green accents. The view changes to reveal that Arthur Watts is sitting at the table. He picks up a tea cup and puts his feet up on the table.

"Why thank you, Professor. Salem always did say you were…" He takes a sip. "Quite hospitable."

We see Qrow sitting at a bar sometime later, fully healed from his wound. Oscar approaches him from behind.

"Excuse me?"

Qrow turns around to face Oscar. "You know, I don't think they allow kids in here, pipsqueak."

Oscar looks at his left arm as it moves. "Shut up, I'm getting there."

Qrow gives him a questioning look.

"Um, I'm supposed to tell you, I'd like my cane back?" Oscar inquired.

Qrow's eyes widen for a moment in surprise. "It's good to see you again, Oz."

Qrow withdraws Ozpin's Cane in its compact mode and tosses it to Oscar, who presses a button on the hilt, extending the baton. Oscar grasps the baton with the other hand, surprised, before looking at Qrow with a determined face as the scene cuts to black.

 **The fourth book is complete and our heroes and heroines can rest easy… for now.**

 _ **Guys, check out my profile and copy and paste it to see what Ren's tachi is like.**_


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